Was a Remake of MGS Cancelled By Konami in 2019?

It is quite possible that a Metal Gear Solid remake did enter production and was subsequently cancelled by Konami back in 2019.

Former developer on the Metal Gear series, Ikuya Nakamura, has put out several tweets regarding an unannounced and previously secret project at Konami. One tweet in particular states that the now-cancelled project was in active development for a number of months at Konami during 2019. The title was later shut down by the Japanese publisher.

Further tweets from the artist and co-director of the iconic stealth franchise revealed that this project would have actually served to re-introduce a classic Konami IP. Whilst there isn’t any distinct proof that this project was intended to be a renewal of the Metal Gear franchise, it is notable that Nakamura has spent nearly the entirety of his career helping to develop MGS titles for Konami.

Nakamura has made a significant contribution to several of the entries in the quintessential stealth action series over the years. He worked as an artist on the first Metal Gear Solid game in the late 90’s and has remained an integral part of the series all the way up until recently, having worked on 2018’s Metal Gear Survive. It was on Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain and Ground Zeroes that Nakamura served in the role of co-director.

We reported on rumours regarding a remake of Metal Gear Solid 3 back in October 2021. This was only the latest in a significant string of MGS remake rumours dating back several years at this point. Although none of the remake speculation has come to pass, the rumours have been frequent and consistent for a fair amount of time now.

Nakamura put out a few more tweets, which indicated that the project in question may have been cancelled by Konami, so that the development team could instead focus on developing a brand new title during 2020. Ever since Hideo Kojima’s infamous and very messy breakup with Konami, the only title of note that the Japanese studio has released was Metal Gear Survive in 2018. Therefore, we still aren’t sure what this supposed, ‘new title,’ is that was chosen in favour of the previously mentioned remake at the time of writing.

Regardless, you can be sure that rumours of a remake of the Metal Gear Solid franchise will continue to persist throughout the rest of this console generation. This is only the latest piece of speculation in the saga that is a potential remake of the older Metal Gear games.

This story in fact goes hand in hand with yet another recent rumour that has been doing the rounds regarding a remake of the classic Metal Gear Solid games. This, (as is the case with any videogame rumour,) should be taken with a significant pinch of salt, especially as it came from a videogame subreddit.

Over on the r/GamingLeaksandRumours subreddit, a user going by the name; u/FJaeger58041, claimed that they were in possession of inside information regarding the remake.

“Not much I can say without someone at risk, nor do I have online credibility. Posting on a throwaway account. Bluepoint was originally at the helm but is now handed off to another support studio. Sony wants this to be the next ‘benchmark’ for VR games across all platforms. Can be played fully without VR as a stand-alone remake. One of the first examples of a ‘AAA title that can be experienced in both VR and non-VR’ that PlayStation wants to accomplish. Again to be transparent there’s no reason to believe anything here, but I’ve been told direct details from someone who is very close to the project. From what I’ve heard it sounds like a new leap/standard for VR. Some of the features that will be included in the remake are;”

u/FJaeger58041

• Fully interactable environments to ground the player in MGS.
• Adaptive triggers and haptic feedback will be utilized to an extreme amount. Almost every item and set-piece in the game is crafted around it.
• Inventory system follows suit to the original game, raising your left wrist for things like medicine, cigarettes, etc, and your right wrist for weaponry.
• Things like Night Vision, Thermal Goggles, Gas Mask, and Cardboard Box will be accurately represented VR.
• Psycho Mantis fight is slightly revamped for a VR experience. Almost identical in non-VR, but the controller port switch is scrapped. I do not know if it’ll be the statue solution by default or if something new is planned.
• Q2 2022 reveal alongside PSVR 2. Q4 2022 release as a launch title.

What do you make of all this? Do you think that the game cancelled by Konami was in fact a remake of MGS? Are you still hoping that we will eventually see a proper MGS remake announced at some point? Sound off in the comments section below.

Buy tickets for BGCP Comic Con in and around Glasgow Scotland – BUY TICKETS

Check out all of our Comic, Movie, Television and Videogame Reviews HERE and our Podcasts/Interviews HERE

If you want to be part of the BGCP community, Join us on Discord, Twitter, Instagram etc then click HERE