There are a lot of things stacked against Konami’s Metal Gear Survive. The biggest is that they fired Hideo Kojima, and parting with one of the most successful creative minds in gaming on less than favorable terms isn’t great PR. It’s also relevant that Metal Gear Survive may as well have been called Metal Gear Cashgrab, as it has nothing to do with the universe or tone of previous titles. Having been out for almost a week, the real question is if the game can survive the tidal wave of backlash against it.

The internet is buzzing with Metal Gear Survive, but not in a good way. Ever since the beta was released, fans have been outraged at the direction of the newest Metal Gear. Unlike previous titles, which were largely political-espionage games, Metal Gear Survive is an open-world survival/defense game. The primary focus of Survive is waves of zombie-like enemies which require players to collect materials to build defenses against the horde. This hasn’t exactly gone over well.

Hideo Kojima went on record disavowing any relation to the title and seemed insulted by what the series has become. In the past, the series has featured some of the most innovative, thoughtful concepts and mechanics in gaming, so the new title has been seen as largely a band-wagon cashgrab. This has only been supported by news that extra character slots will cost a whopping $10 each in addition a myriad of other microtransactions like extra weapon storage. To make matters worse, it seems possible that even the teams working on Metal Gear Survive aren’t committed to it.

The newest Metal Gear Survive info making the rounds on the internet is that it looks like it isn’t just fans and Kojima who are pissed about the game, but the team as well. It makes sense that just because Kojima was let go, that doesn’t mean everyone from the original staff would have joined him. While the image above doesn’t exactly mean a revolt is in order, it most definitely looks like a vote of solidarity for Kojima and one against the new men in charge at Konami.

While this means bad news for Konami, it might just mean brighter pastures for Kojima, who still has legions of fans and is expecting his newest game, Death Stranding, to release in late 2018. As for Metal Gear Survive¸ things are looking grim, and it might be best for Konami to simply let the series go.