Metal Gear Solid games pulled from sale over historical footage licenses
War has changed.
Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 have been removed from digital stores due to licensing issues with their usage of historical footage.
Konami has released a statement that explains the details.
"Thank you for playing the Metal Gear series," it reads. "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 8th November 2021.
"We sincerely ask for your patience and understanding as we work towards making these products available for purchase once again."
The takedown affects Metal Gear titles across PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo 3DS and more, for both standalone titles and collections.
The full list of games is as follows:
- PlayStation 3 METAL GEAR SOLID 2 SONS OF LIBERTY HD EDITION
- PlayStation 3 METAL GEAR SOLID 3 SNAKE EATER HD EDITION
- PlayStation 3 METAL GEAR SOLID HD EDITION
- PlayStation Vita METAL GEAR SOLID 2 SONS OF LIBERTY HD EDITION
- PlayStation Vita METAL GEAR SOLID HD COLLECTION
- PlayStation Now METAL GEAR SOLID HD COLLECTION
- Xbox 360 METAL GEAR SOLID HD EDITION: 2 & 3
- Nintendo 3DS METAL GEAR SOLID SNAKE EATER 3D
- GOG.com METAL GEAR SOLID 2 SUBSTANCE
- NVIDIA SHIELD METAL GEAR SOLID 2 HD for SHIELD TV
- NVIDIA SHIELD METAL GEAR SOLID 3 HD for SHIELD TV
The takedowns apply from 8th November. It's unclear whether the games will be back up soon including the licensed material, or if it will be removed from the games from now on.