Konami Is Bringing Back Classic Metal Gear Solid Games For 35th Anniversary

Happy Birthday, Metal Gear! Well, for yesterday, anyway. Konami’s iconic franchise has turned 35, if you can believe it, which I daresay is probably older than many people reading this (including me). 

Many games companies tend to do something a bit special in celebration of their beloved series’ big birthdays, and it looks like Konami is no exception. In fact, it seems that as a special treat, fans will soon be able to play certain older titles which were previously removed from all digital storefronts, never to be seen again, for a very random reason. Count it as a win?

Before we get into it, take a look at this incredible fan remake of Metal Gear Solid 3 below.

The disappearance of Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 (and all collections which contained them) occurred in November last year: “Thank you for playing the METAL GEAR series,” Konami wrote in a statement at the time. “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.”

Since then, there’d been a radio silence on the state of the titles, but as reported by IGN, that’s now set to change: “The METAL GEAR series released on July 13, 1987 celebrated its 35th anniversary today,” the official Japanese Metal Gear account wrote on Twitter (translated by Google). “We are preparing to resume sales of titles that have been temporarily suspended.”

1987年7月13日に発売された『METAL GEAR』シリーズは、本日35周年を迎えました。
一時販売を停止しておりますタイトルにおいて、販売再開のための準備を進めております。　#METALGEAR #MG35th pic.twitter.com/X7RL5du2qE

— メタルギア公式 (METAL GEAR) (@metalgear_jp) July 13, 2022

While the tweet didn’t specifically mention Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 by name, we can only assume that these are the titles that they’re referring to, and there’s no doubt that fans will be happy to see them back. They’d also make some really solid additions to PlayStation Plus’ Premium classic games library, which we can but hope for. 

Currently, Konami hasn’t given any sort of window for when we can expect the games to return, but hopefully, it’ll be sometime soon.