Image: Konami
The Metal Gear Solid 3 remake might be faithful to Kojima’s vision, but it won’t have his involvement.
Konami has made official what fans of the Metal Gear Solid franchise probably already guessed: series creator Hideo Kojima will not be involved in the upcoming Metal Gear Solid 3 remake. Konami confirmed the news to IGN, while adding that key developers from past entries in the franchise will be working on the remake.
Kojima and Konami parted ways following disagreements that cropped up during the development of Metal Gear Solid 5: Phantom Pain, resulting in the cancellation of Kojima’s Silent Hill reboot and his departure from the publisher. Kojima went on to form his own studio Kojima Productions, where he is now set to deliver a sequel to their first game Death Stranding.
Konami is finally looking to move back into the triple-A gaming space by revitalising its long-slumbering IP with new remakes and sequels, and one of these projects is a remake of Kojima’s Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. The IGN interview confirms that developer Virtuos is assisting with the project. The studio has worked on remasters and ports for games like The Outer Worlds and Nier: Automata, but this could be their most ambitious project yet.
While Kojima isn’t involved in the upcoming remake, Konami told IGN that a ‘central role’ on the project will be taken up by in-house developers who were, “involved in the production of the past [games in the] Metal Gear series.” Virtuos is assisting due to the studio’s involvement, “in the production of previous entries in the Metal Gear series."
Konami also said that Metal Gear Solid 3 was singled out for a remake, “because it depicts the birth of Big Boss (Naked Snake), which is the starting point of the Metal Gear series,” and that, “many fans have been requesting a remake of this game for a long time." That doesn’t rule out more remakes of other Metal Gear Solid games, however. Konami said, “regarding remakes of previous games in the series other than Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, we will listen to player demand and consider accordingly."
Konami is also putting out the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection to accompany this remake, consisting of the first two Metal Gear games and Metal Gear Solid 1, 2 and 3. No release date has been confirmed for any of these projects yet.