Looks like the local fans will have to wait a bit longer as majority of the game retailers had their release day for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain delayed all thanks to the Bureau of Customs.

Today is the official launch day for the most anticipated Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, well it was supposed to be available in your nearest game store but as of right now, the release of the game will be delayed. The speculation started when some gamers received a text notification from the game retailers where they preordered their copies of The Phantom Pain saying that their game copies will not reach the supposed launch date and it might be available at the end of the week. Most of the large game retail stores have posted their advisories  to their Facebook pages regarding the delay of the shipment, this also includes the limited edition package and the PlayStation 4 MGSV bundle pack. It was noted that they will notify the public on the availability of the games. But The Phantom Pain was not the only game that got involved in the delayed release, games such as Mad Max and One Piece Pirate Warriors 3.

iTech, GameOne Gadget (also the sister brand of iTech) and Datablitz have posted the said advisory but did not mention the reason behind the delay, but Gameline posted an advisory stating the delay was due to ‘Customs issue’, the advisory was posted on August 29. It is much a surprise to some gamers as majority of the game releases in the country rarely had a delay, which expection to game copies that were shipped straight from North America.

Many are speculating that it could be the cause of Konami’s strict policy of having a simultaneous worldwide launch for MGS V: The Phantom Pain, but since North America has already launch as of this moment, the angle of having a customs issue is becoming an obvious reason.

The Bureau of Customs has been a lot of controversy as of this year, with the most recent involved the Balikbayan Boxes from overseas Filipino workers being penalized with higher taxes and the issue with random inspection of the packages, which was backfired with complains of having most of the Balikbayan Boxes ravaged and with missing items after the supposed ‘inspection’. However a lot of people have been complaining on how the Customs taxed their shipments, which almost doubled their expenses in purchasing items from abroad.

The Bureau of Customs is also ranked as one of the corrupt government agencies in the country for the longest time. There are no info on the actual issues on the shipment and clearance of the items from Customs, but it is no surprise that the said agency will have some sort of anomalies with the shipment due to their tarnished reputation in regards to corruption bribery. We are hoping to get in touch with Customs to get more clarification in this issue as well as to get to know of their side of the story.

It’s a shame that the gamers will have to suffer with the supposed issue with the Bureau of Customs on holding the release of the game, as The Phantom Pain is supposed to the last game to be developed by Hideo Kojima.

UPDATE 9/3/2015

Most of the retail game stores are receiving their stock for the retail game copy Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, including the Collector’s Edition

UPDATE 9/2/2015

The PS4 limited edition of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is already available to all major game retail stores, meanwhile Datablitz has the PS4 retail copy of the game available right now, iTech will have theirs by tomorrow, the Collector’s Edition will be available by tomorrow or the following day according to the game retailers.