'Metal Gear Solid V' players are racing towards nuclear disarmament

There’s a secret cutscene buried in the depths of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain that can only be unlocked when a player decides to do away with their personal stash of nuclear weapons.

Earlier this month, Konami announced that as soon as a set of very specific in-game requirements were met, the bonus footage would be released as a reward. In addition to completing Mission 31, players would have to abandon their plans to develop nuclear weapons for personal use in addition to discarding any they’d previously built and stored.

Though much of the Metal Gear franchise’s plot is steeped in the paranormal, a substantial part of The Phantom Pain‘s story borrows heavily from the real-world events of the Cold War. One of the core elements to The Phantom Pain‘s “Forward Operating Base” side games involves players strategically using the threat of nuclear conflict to deter being plundered.

Rather than rewarding players for personal conquests, though, Konami’s incentivizing a more altruistic outlook. Getting every single player to give up their nukes would be near impossible (see: trolls), but Konami’s tweaked its rules to up the odds of players actually gaining access to the hidden cutscene.

Konami has split its gamers up by console into distinct populations; if everyone playing The Phantom Pain on the Xbox One disarms, the cutscene will become available to those playing on that system.

Surprisingly, the movement to do away with nuclear weapons has been wildly successful across the world. At the beginning of the month when Konami confirmed that it was monitoring nuclear activity, most consoles had at least 1,000-2,000 players with fully developed weapons. By November, 25, the number of most players with nukes had dropped into the low 100s.

Clearly, the people playing The Phantom Pain on Steam don’t see the use in ramping down their nuclear production, but it’s looking like that cutscene will be making its way online any day now courtesy of the peaceful people playing on the XBox 360.