There have been some rumours flying around here and there ever since the end of 2021 regarding Konami’s plan to remaster several of their successful classic franchises with one of them seeming to be the Metal Gear Solid 3 Remake.
Its rumour was first shared by the gaming news article Video Games Chronicle (VGC) which they were given insider information from anonymous publishing sources revealing that following Konami’s restructuring back at the beginning of 2021, they are planning to back ramp up their premium games so that they can become relevant again on the gaming landscape.
As we’ve already known, Konami has become a bit silent ever since its parting with its arguably best game producer back in March 2015, Hideo Kojima; a man who pioneered the Metal Gear franchise titles. The last Metal Gear game that Kojima developed first-hand was the Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain released in September 2015.
Since then, Konami has yet to announce any new Metal Gear series despite being fairly consistent before the partingー that is until February 2018 when they released its new Metal Gear title, Metal Gear Survive, which they produced without Kojima in the production team. Unfortunately, the game received a fairly bad review during its launch such as the GameSpot review giving it a 5/10 rating stating that the story campaign is quite forgettable.
Konami itself is by no means on the brink of collapse or anything. In contrast, the statistic shows that its revenue in the fiscal year 2022 report shows that the company is in its best shape.
However, as shown in the graph, the game section has fumbled quite a bit compared to its previous year. To some extent, even the brand “Konami” has started to be far more associated with Pachinko gambling games instead of a “proper” video game company.
Fortunately, with the restructuring that happened back in 2021, “Konami is now focused on bringing back its biggest brands to the premium games space”, told the anonymous insider.
In its plans at that time, it seems that the three most likely candidates to make a return are Silent Hill, Castlevania and Metal Gear.
The good news is we don’t have to wait any further as it seems that Konami is dead serious about going back to “premium” game landscapes as Silent Hill 2 remake has properly been announced and even already has its official Steam page listed as Coming Soon.
Another interesting development can also be heard for both the new Castlevania game and a remake of the Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater which, according to Andy Robinson, owner and editor of VGC News, were planned to be announced through E3. However, now that E3 2023 has been confirmed to be no more, Konami might have to announce it elsewhere later down the line.
Andy also said that in his tweet posted on 28 March 2023, the MGS 3 remake will likely be released in 2024. The title will also likely be Playstation 5 exclusive as Shpeshal Nick, Co-founder of XboxEra in his podcast hinted that Konami is highly likely to announce the game through Playstation Showcase in replace of the cancelled E3 2023.
The rumour of Playstation 5 exclusivity has also been chimed by Jez Corden, editor at Windows Central in his tweet just yesterday on 7 May 2023 that said “Heard similar about Metal Gear exclusivity for PlayStation btw.”.
While it may be highly likely that if the game is released it will be exclusive to PlayStation 5 console, we have yet to know if this exclusivity will last forever or if they will also plan for PC release at a later date. This is not the first time that developers or publishers signed up a deal with consoles to prioritise the release of their game to said console platform first before it eventually came to PC.
Bottom line
Konami has been rumoured on planning to make a return to the “premium games” landscape for some time now and just recently showed its commitment to achieve that.
Three of the franchises that are most likely to be part of this big return are Silent Hill, Castlevania and Metal Gear Silent Hill itself has properly been confirmed by Konami through its announcement trailer posted back in October 2022.
Rumour about the remake of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater has also been going strong with recent cumulative rumours showing that the game is highly likely to be part of 2024 titles and will come as part of a PlayStation 5 exclusive.
The exclusivity, however, remains to be unknown between a permanent or temporary exclusivity.
