The video game industry has its share of far fetched rumors, whether it’s the remasters of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and The Wind Waker for Nintendo Switch or the long-fabled Bloodborne remaster. Upon hearing of remakes for Metal Gear Solid, which eventually was narrowed down to a Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater remake, there was even more cynicism than usual. That Konami sanctioning a remake? It was impossible, especially after everything that had transpired over the years.
There were more rumors of Sony’s involvement, which made it more feasible, but sure enough, the publisher revealed that Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater was real. Developed alongside Virtuos for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC, the remake is a “faithful recreation” with “evolved gameplay.” While Kojima and even artist Yoji Shinkawa (who is also at Kojima Productions) aren’t involved, various developers who were “involved in the production of the past [games in the] Metal Gear series” are playing a “central role” in development, per comments to IGN.
Yes, it’s reusing voiceovers from the original game instead of freshly recording lines. There’s no release date, but the current in-game screenshots look good. To further help with the wait, Konami is also re-releasing the first titles in the series as part of Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1. Not only does it include the VR missions for Metal Gear Solid 1, but Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater are both actually from the HD Collection.
That means more content, quality of life improvements and superior visuals to their original releases. You even get Metal Gear 1 and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake as a bonus. The publisher also seemingly hinted at more classic releases if the Vol. 1 naming wasn’t indicative enough).
Remakes for other titles? Konami will “listen to player demand and consider accordingly,” which is probably a nice way of saying that if Delta: Snake Eater does well, we could see other remakes. However, just the fact they’re prepared for the question is interesting.
For those effectively offline since 2016, you’re probably wondering: What is this Konami? Why is it suddenly pushing so hard for Metal Gear Solid, especially given how it mistreated creator Hideo Kojima aside before and after the release of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain?
No one knows. For several years, Konami distanced itself from its major franchises and triple-A gaming in general. Kojima’s fallout with Konami leading up to the release of Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain is well-documented.
If that wasn’t enough, it also released Metal Gear Survive, a spin-off to Metal Gear Solid 5, which featured survival crafting mechanics, zombies and co-op. It was a flop, critically and commercially, and further cemented the company as out of touch with its fan base.
However, as the years passed, Konami slowly began inching its way back to core gaming. It released new titles in the Bomberman franchise, which were decent (even the free-to-play spin-off Super Bomberman R Online shut down last year). The Momotaro Dentetsu series, long thought to be over after Konami fired several Hudson Soft developers, made a comeback in 2020 with Momotaro Dentetsu: Showa, Heisei, Reiwa Mo Teiban! for the Nintendo Switch, selling 3.5 million units in Japan alone.
Then there was the Silent Hill announcement, with multiple projects, from a Silent Hill 2 Remake by Bloober Team to a brand new title by NeoBards Entertainment, with Higurashi and Umineko writer Ryukishi07 in charge. You also have Silent Hill: Townfall by Annapurna and No Code, which will kickstart an anthology series or Silent Hill: Ascension, the interactive streaming series with viewers determining how the story unfolds.
Given how many rumors surrounded Silent Hill’s revival over the years, Konami probably made plans early. The pandemic probably didn’t help, especially given the number of external developers it’s working with. It’s thus also possible that a Metal Gear Solid remake and re-release of classic titles had been planned for a while.
Why Konami would do all this can boil down to other external factors. For Silent Hill, it may have simply seen the demand, given the cancellation of Silent Hills and removal of P.T., and slowly planned to bring it back. With the success of titles like Resident Evil 2 Remake and Resident Evil 3 Remake, not to mention all the other remakes that have come since, it decided that it could make some decent bank with a Silent Hill 2 Remake, and subsequently, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater.
For the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection, the same logic follows – various remasters and collections, including those from Konami, have seen a decent response. Why not release titles from arguably its most well-known franchise and make some profit?
Its partnership with external developers, like Virtuos for Delta Snake Eater, is all the more significant since the publisher can maintain extensive control. It didn’t quite have that with Kojima, whose exorbitant development costs for The Phantom Pain are rumored to have caused tensions in the first place.
From a business perspective, the publisher’s moves make sense. However, the real question is: Does Konami deserve a second chance with Metal Gear Solid?
Remember: The company didn’t just fire Kojima – it isolated him from his team, then barred him from appearing at The Game Awards. Some have also theorized that their rush to get Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain resulted in several elements, like Episode 51, being cut from the game or repackaged as cutscenes.
Also, when Kojima responded to Metal Gear Survive, saying that he didn’t think zombies defined Metal Gear, Konami reportedly caused trouble behind the scenes. It allegedly barred former Konami turned Kojima Productions employees from seeking health insurance through some shifty dealings.
That doesn’t include alleged poor working conditions for developers, from long hours and crunch to constant surveillance. It would even demote developers to cleaning jobs and security guards if they didn’t perform well enough. We could sit here and talk about how annoying it was to see the Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater renders used for Pachinko, and make no mistake, it sucked for long-time fans. However, Konami as a company is questionable at best, and morally bankrupt at worst (allegedly, of course).
There are doubtless developers at the company who want to make Delta: Snake Eater (and other projects, like Silent Hill) work. They’ve probably been trying for even longer than has even been rumored. However, it all goes back to management, who have proven untrustworthy over the years. One moment we could see a revival of the Metal Gear franchise as we know it, and the next, it could focus exclusively on NFTs (which it already has a platform for). At the end of it all, it’s the developers and fans who suffer.
Regardless, for the foreseeable future, Metal Gear Solid is back. How long is the million-dollar question, and hopefully, Konami won’t put it on their long-running tab.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
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