Months after they were removed from sale, a number of Metal Gear Solid games have yet to return to the PlayStation and Xbox stores.
In November 2021, Konami shocked fans by pulling the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection from digital storefronts. This effected numerous MGS games on various platforms, including PS3, PS Vita, Nvidia Shield, and Xbox 360. It also resulted in the collection vanishing from Sony’s game streaming service, PS Now.
Published by Konami in 2011 and developed by the Sony-owned Bluepoint Games, HD Collection included remasters for MGS2: Sons of Liberty, MGS3: Snake Eater, and MGS: Peace Walker.
Almost half a year later, these games are still unavailable to buy, but why? According to Konami, Metal Gear Solid 2 and its Cold War sequel feature licensed archive footage. These licenses have expired and need to be renewed if these games are to be sold on the PlayStation Store and other digital marketplaces in future.
Here is the official statement, direct from Konami:
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 MGS 2, MGS 3 and all products that include these games from digital storefronts globally starting from November 8th, 2021.
We sincerely ask for your patience and understanding as we work towards making these products available for purchase once again.
The Metal Gear Solid HD Collection originally launched more than 10 years ago. The PS3 and Xbox 360 versions also included Peace Walker which seems to be exempt from the licensing issues that have recently emerged.
Konami has yet to issue an update on what’s happening to games or if they will ever return to online stores. With PlayStation Plus soon to offer 100s of legacy games as part of your monthly subscription, it would be a shame to miss a large part of the MGS series.
