It seems that just about every version of Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 is being removed from digital stores due to their use of historical footage.
Konami announced they would be taking the games down from the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo 3DS’ storefronts on their website. The Metal Gear Solid games are only temporarily being taken down though.
“We are currently working on renewing the licenses for select historical archive footage used in-game, therefore, we have made the temporary decision to begin suspending the sale of METAL GEAR SOLID 2, METAL GEAR SOLID 3 and all products that include these games from digital storefronts globally starting from November 8th, 2021.” reads the post on the website.
The games being removed all include the HD collections of the series. There’s no indication as to when the games will return to the digital storefronts.
Hopefully they will make a return to the storefronts sometime soon. The only way to play the Metal Gear Solid HD collection on modern consoles is through PS Now or Xbox via backwards compatibility.
Situations like these are a constant reminder of the importance of games preservation. Though Konami aren’t ones to trust when it comes to ports. The Silent Hill HD Collection is notorious for its bad port. The port team were provided with unfinished versions of the games, and had to fix numerous bugs themselves.
There’s also been rumours of a Metal Gear Solid 3 remake recently. There are also supposedly remasters planned for the MGS series in the works. But MGS2 and 3 being taken down from stores is unlikely to be related.
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Featured Image Credit: Konami