The first PlayStation Showcase brought a few surprise announcements with it, but none were bigger and more exciting than the surprise of Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater! In this new gaming world of constant remakes and franchises, Konami are now jumping on the bandwagon and honestly, we couldn’t be happier.
Not only are we finally getting a Metal Gear Solid experience on the current gen, but we’re getting multiple! We’ll be able to experience a remaster of the first three games in the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1, as well as the complete built-from-the-ground-up remake of the aforementioned third (and best) game in the series.
Related: RUMOR: Reportedly There Will be Another PlayStation Showcase This Year – Will this One be Better?
However, there is still some confusion as to what is happening, who is involved and how much of the original experience will stay. We’re here to clear that up.
Metal Gear Solid Remake and Remasters Everywhere, Kojima and Shinkawa Nowhere – A History Lesson
Thanks to non-disclosure agreements and a veil of secrecy we’ll probably never find out the absolute specifics surrounding why after decades of working together, Kojima and Konami split in quite acrimonious and out-of-the-blue circumstances, but we can speculate and assume from what we do know.
Back when Hideo Kojima announced that Metal Gear Solid 5 was expected on consoles and PC that same year, fans were ecstatic. However, a few short months after this announcement and a restructuring later, Konami moved away from their previously successful studio-based model to a more modern and western-inspired model, giving themselves more power and more creative control. Ultimately this didn’t sit well with Kojima, who has never been particularly quiet about the fact that his main motivation is the art he produces, not the money it makes, and so he found himself no longer with his content officer title, and without the same creative control he once had.
This wasn’t the only surprise of the time though. On the same day Konami took the decision to remove Kojima’s name from all marketing related material for Metal Gear Solid 5… perhaps it was to send a message or to stamp their authority, but this seemed the tip of the iceberg, with news leaking that for the final months of Metal Gear Solid 5’s development Kojima was completely shut-off from the rest of his team. A toxic work environment indeed. A few days after the release of the game and Konami and Kojima part ways. Whilst Konami are clearly intent on ploughing ahead with the Metal Gear Solid series, it is yet to be seen if they can pull off the creative magic Kojima and Shinkawa over the years, and perhaps that’s why they’re playing it safe with these remakes and remaster?
In an interview with IGN, a Konami spokesperson seems to have put to bed any potential reconciliation, at least at this juncture.
“They are not involved, however, the development team will work hard to create this remake and also the ports (for Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection) so that they can be enjoyed on multiple platforms by even more players all around the world.”
This isn’t the news we were hoping but we were expecting unfortunately, and with apparently the remake and remasters being created by developers “involved in the production of the past [games in the] Metal Gear series.”, it brings us some hope that we’ll be getting somewhat faithful reproductions of the originals.
In that vein, it was also announced that rather than re-recording dialogue with new voice actors, the remaster will actually be using the original dialogue. Whether this is a complete start to finish usage, or if they’ll fill in and re-record what is needed or changed as it comes to it isn’t known, but as long as David Hayter is involved, we’ll all be happy.
The Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol 1. is due to be released later this year, tentatively given a ‘Fall 2023’ release period whilst we know nothing concrete of the Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater release date, we can hope it’ll be sometime in 2024, and it has been confirmed to be on all major consoles.
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