Metal Gear games are disappearing from digital stores temporarily

 Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater are disappearing from digital stores today, while Konami renews licenses for the "historical footage" they contain, its publisher announced. Although the removals are temporary, Konami's statement does not give a timeline for when the games could return to affected stores. The publisher said, "We sincerely ask for your patience and understanding as we work towards making these products available for purchase once again."

The removals affect various digital re-releases of the two games, which originally came out in 2001 and 2004. These include the PS3, Xbox 360, PlayStation Vita and Nvidia Shield TV remasters of both games, the Nintendo 3DS version of MGS3, and the re-release of GOG of MGS2. The HD collection of the games is also disappearing from the streaming service PlayStation Now.

While Konami hasn't provided details on which historical footage is the problem, both Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 use real-world footage in long scenes to tie their stories back to 20th-century historical events. This footage plays an important role in setting the atmosphere for both games, so it's reassuring that Konami is going down the road of renewing the licenses of the footage rather than trying to remove it.

Other games affected by similar licensing issues have not been so lucky. In 2012, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was pulled from digital stores on PC due to music licensing issues, and when it returned, it reportedly had 10 songs missing from its soundtrack. It was a similar story with the 2010 re-release of Crazy Taxi on PS3 and Xbox 360, which lacked the real-world music and branding of the original.