It’s been nine years since Snake appeared drenched by the rain in Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes. To mark the anniversary, director Hideo Kojima opened up about the game, saying the prologue chapter to The Phantom Pain was originally meant to be the beginning of an episodic series.

Kojima expressed on Twitter that he wanted to try something new with Ground Zeroes as developmental cycles grew longer for games. “In fact, it was my big intention to launch [Ground Zeroes]. The development of a full game takes for 4-5 [years],” he wrote. “Times change during production.

“So I thought of offering an episodic format, like a streamed drama, where one episode is produced and distributed. GZ was meant to be an experiment.”