Konami could be preparing for the return of currently unavailable games from the franchise’s history to digital platforms.

In November, the Japanese publisher announced that it was temporarily suspending the sales of Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3 in digital stores, as some of the historical video footage expired their licensing. Konami had to renew them in the meantime. More than half a year has passed since then, and we haven’t heard anything relevant from them (apart from the fact that they are NFTing and updating the scandalously shoddy quality-launched eFootball…).

Konami announced on Metal Gear’s Japanese-language Twitter account that Metal Gear launched on July 13 1987 (35 years ago today), is celebrating, and preparations are underway to resume temporarily halted sales. Interestingly, the Japanese company didn’t mention anything to explain which game it was, but we did that for them in the previous paragraph…

In November, we described in detail where each game was affected. It is helpful to recall: “Here’s Konami’s announcement: “Temporary removal of Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3 from digital storefronts (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo 3DS, etc.): thank you for playing the Metal Gear series. We are currently working on renewing the licenses for select historical archive footage used in-game. Therefore, we have made the quick decision to suspend the sale of Metal Gear Solid 2, Metal Gear Solid 3, and all products that include these games from digital storefronts globally starting November 8, 2021. We sincerely ask for your patience and understanding as we work towards making these products available again. Thank you for your continued support of the Metal Gear Solid series.”

Let’s see the list of games that will be temporarily not available digitally. On PlayStation 3, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty HD Edition, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater HD Edition and Metal Gear Solid HD Edition leave the PlayStation Store. On PlayStation Vita, the titles in question are Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty HD Edition, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater HD Edition, and Metal Gear Solid HD Collection.

The PlayStation Now bids farewell to Metal Gear Solid HD Collection; the Xbox 360 has to let Metal Gear Solid HD Edition: 2 & 3 on the Microsoft Store, and the Nintendo eShop will get rid of Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D for the Nintendo 3DS, GOG is delisting Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance. In contrast, the Nvidia Shield has to stop providing Metal Gear Solid 2 HD and Metal Gear Solid 3 HD for Shield TV.”

It’s about time Snake came back…

Source: Gematsu