Cognition Dissemination: Who Messed Up with Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3?
The older Metal Gear Solid titles are perhaps some of the last games anyone would have expected to disappear from sale on digital services, for whatever reason. They didn’t come with a slew of licensed music like Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain or include piles upon piles of cameos and collaborations that could present problems in the future like the multiple crossovers in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. But fate has a way of surprising anyone, and two older titles have vanished with little warning, at least for now.
Konami announced via their website on November 7th that Metal Gear Solid 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3 would both be removed from digital services like PlayStation Network for PS3 and Vita, Xbox Live, and the eShop for Nintendo 3DS on November 8th. The company is working to retain the licenses for historical footage used in both games, the videos that play during the franchise’s trademark long cutscenes whenever a longer explanation pertaining to a historical occurrence or existing landmark is necessary. If you’re the kind of person who didn’t know that kind of documentary-ish footage needed to be licensed, you now do.
It’s a shame this had to happen, and it sure as hell would have been nice if Konami provided a better advance notice so people would have had more time to get them, especially on older stores that come with more hurdles to access these days due to outdated security measures. I know this could have been worse and the games could have disappeared without a word, which publishers are too-frequently guilty of. But a week’s notice here would have been even better. Konami is, like any company, not keeping the fanbase informed about how these negotiations are going. But this much is clear: Someone here messed up badly, and I’d like to know who.
To be honest, I’m surprised Konami even informed fans that the games were temporarily vanishing in the first place, given their approach to video games in recent years. The hardcore gaming audience is far from Konami’s priority these days, and I can’t blame them when it’s worked out splendidly for their financials. But it’s possible they’ll want to get back into the game development groove full time if rumors are to be believed, so perhaps — perhaps — they’re trying to ease back into their good graces.
That does not answer how it came to this, however. Perhaps the company simply didn’t realize the rights to the footage were set to expire until the last minute, and informed fans of their disappearance while they revved up the negotiators. Maybe they were confident they would renew them in time, and panicked when they realized they couldn’t. It’s also possible the organizations they licensed the footage from didn’t tell Konami until the last minute, which left them with no time to start negotiations to maintain the rights for them and finish the deal before the rights expired. Chances are we’ll never know precisely who messed up here and who screwed who, but it’s fun to speculate — for me, anyway.
Despite the games having to leave temporarily and Konami’s recent reputation following Hideo Kojima’s departure, I’m confident they’ll get the rights to them back and put the games on sale again. Providing an update as to what would happen just before they disappeared is an encouraging sign that they actually give a damn. Not to mention that license holders for archived footage don’t tend to be as strict as music and celebrity rights holders — but you’ll want to emphasize the “tend to.” This can depend on the company.
When they get the rights back, they should take the time to make the games available on newer platforms. Look at the digital services the game disappeared from, which include the PlayStation Stores for PS3 and Vita and the eShop for 3DS, three dead platforms. Not to mention that the former two would have been dead by now anyway if Sony Interactive Entertainment got their way earlier this year. There won’t be a better time to make the games available on newer PlayStation platforms, and maybe even Switch if Konami feels Smash Bros. fans would buy them. The Xbox 360 versions were already playable on newer Xbox platforms, but direct ports to newer Xbox platforms wouldn’t hurt. Konami has been as good as other companies when it comes to preserving their games (i.e. bad), but they’ve made efforts to improve in recent years with the Castlevania and Contra collections. Metal Gear could join them.
It wouldn’t be a surprise if this eventually happens to other Metal Gear games, especially The Phantom Pain with all the 1980s tracks playable on Venom Snake’s Walkman. The only question is when, and if Konami will care enough about the game to save it when it comes to this. It will depend on just how much the music licenses cost to renew, which can get more expensive over time (see what’s happened with “Fly Me to the Moon” for Neon Genesis Evangelion). Whether Konami wants to spend more on a game whose development reportedly went overbudget will also be a factor, not to mention maintaining the servers. Keep this in mind the next time it goes on sale for a good price.
About The Author
Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
