Who is Tom Olsen?
Tom Olsen is the name of a Twitter account that joined the social media platform in April 2021. His bio writes that he is a “born and bred NYer” and that he worked as a “Maintenance Technician at the Big Shell”. Other important bits of information about Tom Olsen is that he’s been married to a certain Karen for 10 years and that he’s a “recovering Mets fan.” So far, Tom Olsen has massed more than 5,000 followers on Twitter. Yet, Tom Olsen only follows four accounts: the New York Mets, Metal Gear Official, Hideo Kojima, and Konami. Throughout April, Tom Olsen has posted dozens of photos showcasing the primary setting of Metal Gear Solid 2, the Big Shell, looking much sharper than what it looked like in the game’s most recent HD remaster that was released in 2011. What’s even more intriguing is that some photos came from angles that would have been otherwise unavailable to gamers. This included first-person stills and videos of him moving around the Big Shell. Then, as the days passed by, Olsen started talking about an imminent visit from President Johnson, and other things that helped fuel the rumors that a new Metal Gear Solid game was in the works. What really got the rumor mill going though was when the official Metal Gear Solid account chimed in, reminding Tom Olsen that they had “visitors coming next week”. Finally, once Tom Olsen started talking about the importance of April 30, nearly everyone, from press outlets to random people on various platforms, started getting in on the speculation. Ultimately, people started to believe that Tom Olsen was teasing some sort of announcement related to Metal Gear Solid 2, which is highly regarded as the best Metal Gear Solid game of all time. However, as we now know, this is far from the truth.
What’s The Truth Behind Tom Olsen?
On April 26, a new episode of The Kojima Frequency podcast revealed behind Tom Olsen. The truth is, there is no Metal Gear announcement coming. Or, at least, not to the knowledge of Tom Olsen’s creator, who is actually just a huge fan of the Metal Gear franchise who describes himself as a “Metal Gear Solid historian”. On April 30, Nitroid, the creator of Tom Olsen, posted a new video on YouTube where he explains to Tom Olsen and audiences his reason. He claims that he made the Tom Olsen account to show his “appreciation for Metal Gear Solid 2 as it approaches its 20th anniversary”. Nitroid added that he thought how fun it would be to imagine the day-to-day life of someone who worked at Big Shell and how he might have dealt with the Big Shell Incident. Nitroid then goes on to say that he won’t apologize for what he did because “he never meant to deceive anyone” in the first place, which is valid. Later on, Nitroid explains that what he did was a “fitting way to memorialize Metal Gear Solid 2”. Lest we forget, one of the themes that Metal Gear Solid 2 tackled was the dangers of how easily the fast transmission of information all over the globe can help in covering up the truth. It’s safe to say that Nitroid succeeding in memorializing and proving what Hideo Kojima wanted to show audiences with Metal Gear Solid 2.
Is There a New Metal Gear In the Works?
Metal Gear Solid 2 was first released in November 2001. This means that we’re only a few months away from the game’s 20th anniversary. Thus, it would have made sense for Konami or Hideo Kojima to release anything related to Metal Gear Solid 2. However, now that Nitroid has revealed the truth behind the Tom Olsen account, all we’re left with are rumors and speculations. Among those is a recent 4chan leak that claims that a Metal Gear Solid Collection is set to release later this year. Meanwhile, there are also rumors that Bluepoint Games is working on a full-on remake of the first Metal Gear Solid game. In addition to this, Oscar Isaac has also reportedly been confirmed to take on the role of Solid Snake in a video game adaptation, although news of the movie’s production or development has been close to non-existent. With that said, there is a small sliver of a silver lining for Metal Gear fans. Even though Hideo Kojima has since left Konami, the owner of the Metal Gear IP, among others, has since started making games again. In fact, Konami is set to release a new game in 2022. Not only that, but Konami also teased that it had multiple projects in development after backing out of E3 2021.
