You Still Can't Buy Some Metal Gear Solid Games Due To "Historical Archive Footage" Licenses

We hear a lot about video game preservation these days, and for good reason. It can be so easy for, in the worst cases, games to be lost to time, or in slightly less serious but still very annoying cases, for games to become really difficult to play, due to them disappearing from shops and digital storefronts. Most of the time, there’s still slightly less than legal ways to access stuff, but many people love having the ‘official’ options available.

That’s why it was pretty concerning when in November last year, Konami announced that a number of Metal Gear Solid games were being pulled from all digital storefronts, albeit temporarily. Well, supposedly, anyway. The thing is, as of today, it’s been five months, and they’re still missing, with absolutely no word on their return. 

While you're here, take a look at this incredible Metal Gear Solid 3 fan-made remake project below.

As for why they were removed in the first place, it’s a pretty weird one. Basically, the games featured licensed historical archive footage, and all these years on, the licenses finally expired. Oops. Konami announced at the time that they were working on making the games available again, but it sure seems to be taking a while.

“Thank you for playing the METAL GEAR series,” Konami wrote in a statement back in November. “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.

“We sincerely ask for your patience and understanding as we work towards making these products available for purchase once again. Thank you for your continued support of the Metal Gear series.”

Originally, as Konami stated, it seemed as though the fix would be as simple as just renewing the licenses, but with the amount of time that’s passed, it could be that the games are having to be re-released without that footage included, whatever it might be. It’s just about the perfect time for them to return, too, with the expanded PlayStation Plus library set to release in June, so hopefully no news is good news, and they’ll be back soon.