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The Metal Gear franchise celebrated its 35th anniversary on July 13, 2022, while also revealing some news about Metal Gear Solid games. The Japanese Metal Gear Twitter account teased something fascinating for its fans on July 12, 2022.
It’s not a secret that Metal Gear Solid classics have been removed from digital storefronts, but that might not be the case forever. According to the franchise's official Twitter account, they are working to resume sales once again.
Konami revealed they are working on relisting the Metal Gear Solid games
Back in November 2021, Metal Gear Solid 2, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, and any anthology they were a part of were all delisted from all digital storefronts. This was because Konami's license for the historical footage used in the games had expired, so they could no longer sell the games.
Physical versions of the games can still be sold on secondary markets, but that does not help anyone who wants a digital version for a more modern console. Beginning on November 8, 2022, the following games were removed:
Delisted Metal Gear games
- MGS 2 Sons of Liberty HD Edition for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita
- MGS 3 Snake Eater HD Edition for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita
- MGS HD Edition for PlayStation 3
- MGS HD Collection for PlayStation Vita and PlayStation Now
- MGS HD Edition: 2 & 3 for Xbox 360
- MGS Snake Eater 3D for Nintendo 3DS
- MGS 2: Substance for GOG
- MG 2 and 3 HD for Nvidia Shield
While Konami stated that this was a temporary measure, further information has been scarce. In the tweet above, Konami made a huge reveal that could mean great things for Metal Gear fans:
“The ‘METAL GEAR’ series released on July 13, 1987, celebrated its 35th anniversary today. We are preparing to resume sales of titles that have been temporarily suspended.”
It’s likely that this is just a focus on MGS 2 and 3, as well as the various anthologies and remakes that were created, but nothing has been confirmed at this time. The company asked for patience as this was worked on, but the reveal on Twitter was fantastic news for MGS fans around the world.
It’s not really clear what footage, in particular, Konami lost the rights to, though. After all, between Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3, there are over 9 hours of cutscenes. This could be a huge reveal for the 35th anniversary of Metal Gear, bringing the digital versions of two of the best games in the franchise back.
While no date has been given, the MGS team has revealed that they are preparing to relist the games. No further details are available at this time, but bringing the games forward again to the modern PlayStation 4 and 5 consoles, even if it’s just a port into the PSN store or PlayStation Plus.
This would be a decision that could make fans far happier than simply relisting the games on 3DS and PlayStation 3, consoles that not many fans are purchasing at the moment, compared to PS4 and PS5. Fans will just have to keep their eyes peeled for further announcements, but at least the two games are on their way back.
