The future of the series

[Aragorn]

I think Konami would definitely still own it, just shelved it - the problem being maybe that a lot of the developers who helped produce it with the software designers in the first place aren't employed there anymore. I imagine it's a steep learning curve to get a bunch of other people and new employees learning it, for it to not be an Industry Standard tool. That must be a ridiculous amount of money spent in training and upskilling. I'd probably shelf it too.

After what we've seen with Oblivion Remaster though, still running the original version of Creation Engine it was built on with UE5 attached for visuals, sound, etc. I can see something like that happening in coming years with MGSV/GZ. In which case I guess they would have to have basic working knowledge among their staff with FE to get it running properly.

This is a bit hearsay too but apparently it wasn't actually that easy to work with; and a big part of the resource drain on V that drove a wedge between Koji and Konami was the complications with the FOX engine - and that might be why they didn't just license it like Guerilla did with the DECIMA engine. They still used it up to 2020 for PES and Survive, so it's clear that they tried until it stopped being viable.

In general, custom solutions seem to be a losing game in the world of software - and trying to brute force a one size fits all tool set rarely ever works. Just look at what EA's Frostbite mandate did to a ton of its proprietary assets e.g BioWare.