The Metal Gear franchise has a tendency to focus on war as part of its main narrative, and is one that frequently uses real-world historical facts in order to reinforce the story's impact. In the case of Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3, they even utilized archival footage from events such as the Cold War. Because of that, both games are being taken down from digital storefronts.

Konami has been unable to acquire the licensing required to keep both games listed on storefronts, and so they will be "temporarily" delisting Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 from a variety of platforms. Some of these include the recent GOG release of Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance, the 3DS's Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D, both the PlayStation 3 and Vita's releases of the standalone Metal Gear Solid 2 HD and 3 HD, as well as the PlayStation Now streaming version of the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, which means it'll also result in the takedown of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker HD, despite being uninvolved in the licensing issue.

Which products will be temporarily removed?​

・PlayStation®3 METAL GEAR SOLID 2 SONS OF LIBERTY HD EDITION
・PlayStation®3 METAL GEAR SOLID 3 SNAKE EATER HD EDITION
・PlayStation®3 METAL GEAR SOLID HD EDITION
・PlayStation®Vita METAL GEAR SOLID 2 SONS OF LIBERTY HD EDITION
・PlayStation®Vita METAL GEAR SOLID 3 SNAKE EATER HD EDITION
・PlayStation®Vita METAL GEAR SOLID HD COLLECTION
・PlayStation™Now METAL GEAR SOLID HD COLLECTION
・Xbox 360 METAL GEAR SOLID HD EDITION: 2 & 3
・Nintendo 3DS METAL GEAR SOLID SNAKE EATER 3D
・GOG.com METAL GEAR SOLID 2 SUBSTANCE
・NVIDIA® SHIELD™ METAL GEAR SOLID 2 HD for SHIELD TV
・NVIDIA® SHIELD™ METAL GEAR SOLID 3 HD for SHIELD TV

Konami has not mentioned when they will be able to put these games back on digital storefronts, but they'll be gone sometime later today, on November 8th.

Source

 

[SS4]

Good thing i bought Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection years ago lol

 

[Lazyboss]

Let me guess:

The USA holds copyrights for War?

War has changed.

 

[KimKong]

Wow... Just incredible how stupid this really is...
Does this mean history books also need to pay a license fee when using these kinds of material..? And who is the actual recipient of this fee..??

 

[Jayro]

Heaven forbid they uh... renew the license to keep the games from being delisted... That would just be tragic make too much sense.

 

[Valwinz]

this is why you dont buy digital

 

[ut2k4master]

this is why you dont buy digital

youll still be able to play it just fine

 

[the_randomizer]

This is why people pirate games, and why it feels morally right to do so when games get pulled. Douche move.

 

[tfocosta]

Wow! Is this how things will be from now on?

 

[osaka35]

this. this is one example of why we want physical media.

 

[FAST6191]

Because downloadable games you can't resell at the future.

That said "historical footage" if we are going to have a copyright system does not sit wrong with me -- can't see why it would want to be excluded from copyright any more than a song/film/fiction book/... would be.

Edit.

Wow! Is this how things will be from now on?

Yes and no.
Yes in that there will probably be a fair bit more of this when weapons, locations (copyright law, never mind "cultural sensitivity"*, gets tricky for this one**), cars, products... that are not public domain get included and the devs/pubs did not pay for perpetual rights (can be tricky, especially if you want to release enhanced/ports/remakes as what is new game and what is not is hard when doing that).
No. Much like TV shows will rarely use popular music these days lest they be unable to sell it on DVD/syndication/streaming (see a lot of late 90s/early 2000s TV shows -- around here Malcom in the Middle and its first series not being on DVD in the US will probably be one of the more notable, though there are others https://www.vox.com/2014/11/3/7145231/shows-not-on-dvd-music-rights-wonder-years-wkrp vox I know but I could not find the one I want that went through loads, https://www.flavorwire.com/266733/12-tv-shows-we-cant-believe-arent-on-dvd https://www.wired.com/2005/03/copyrights-keep-tv-shows-off-dvd/ have some more) then games will probably adapt similarly -- right now I am reviewing a game with a bunch of "just changed enough" versions of real world weapons).
Minor exception. If someone pulls their thumb out of their arse and sorts out the ability to resell downloadable games then you will probably see a bunch of sellers effectively buy up a considerable number of copies ahead of the deadlines and go from there.
That or intense customisation is offered and people can recreate all their favourite weapons, vehicles, sportsball players, locations and whatnot and the devs can say "nah it is the users". I have seen some things heading down this path for driving games already.

*which has been going on for a while now http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/sci_tech/newsid_2440000/2440713.stm being 2002 for Hitman 2.

**US law has some oddities like buildings after a certain date, and fun with the Hollywood sign. Best one usually is Eiffel tower -- by day is fine but the nightime arrangement of lights, different matter entirely https://mymodernmet.com/eiffel-tower-copyright-law/

 

[Snintendog]

The footage will still be subject to copyright and I doubt this counts as ‘fair use’.

The rights holders may also have changed their policy over the years and/or the cost simply not worth it to Konami.

For example of a change (which to be clear I’m not say is the cause), The Smithsonian Channel caused the Smithsonian to restrict access to material:
https://www.historians.org/publicat...oncerns-about-smithsonians-deal-with-showtime

Looking at the credits on mobygames, I can’t see a single source for footage but it does involve private companies such as ABC/Disney for MGS2:Substance (which again I’m not saying may be the single cause):

https://www.mobygames.com/game/ps2/metal-gear-solid-2-substance/credits

I just learnt disney owns the footage of the atomic bomb testing....okay HOW and WHY?

 

[tech3475]

I just learnt disney owns the footage of the atomic bomb testing....okay HOW and WHY?

My guess would be through a series of acquisitions or some military contract. Out of curiosity do you have the source?

Edit:

Or is this about the footage in question affecting the game? To be clear I don’t know the exact footage other than the credit for something, but the above still applies with the addition of maybe ABC (News?) just covering a test if that is part of the issue.

 

[MiiJack]

The Patriots are behind this

 

[Deleted member 397813]

tfw you need to put a fair use disclaimer before war footage

 

[ChibiMofo]

The fact that archival footage is subject to licensing absolutely blows my mind. Shouldn't it be more logical to have that stuff be openly available to all ?

So... what? You want to change copyright law so that anybody who wants to use my footage can do so without compensation and without permission? And the more historic it is, the more you should be able to do whatever you want with it? It blows my mind that anyone can think that way. Konami was able to license what they needed. The license period has now ended. Whose fault is that? And why should this Konami case cause us to change copyright law to benefit Konami?

Konami could have either negotiated for a longer-term use of the footage, not used it at all, used something else, created their own "cut-scene", or relicensed the footage recently. They chose to delist. That is NOT the fault of the people that control the rights to that footage, nor is it a problem with copyright law.

 

[ChibiMofo]

tfw you need to put a fair use disclaimer before war footage

Some people think that the hilarious "section 76 of the copyright act" and "fair use" disclaimers are magic and shield you from lawsuits or worse when you are willfully violating someone else's copyright rights. That's not how the real world works, and neither Konami nor any legit company would ever try such an indefensible position in a for-profit venture like a game.

 

[Osha]

So... what? You want to change copyright law so that anybody who wants to use my footage can do so without compensation and without permission? And the more historic it is, the more you should be able to do whatever you want with it? It blows my mind that anyone can think that way. Konami was able to license what they needed. The license period has now ended. Whose fault is that? And why should this Konami case cause us to change copyright law to benefit Konami?

Konami could have either negotiated for a longer-term use of the footage, not used it at all, used something else, created their own "cut-scene", or relicensed the footage recently. They chose to delist. That is NOT the fault of the people that control the rights to that footage, nor is it a problem with copyright law.

This really isn't the "own" you think this is.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

Konami doesn't care much for quality games these days. Have you seen the trainwreck that's PES 2022? Well, they rebranded as "eFootball 2022."

The graphics are terrible, gameplay is terrible, and the camera is terrible.

Better they stick with gambling machines.

No, never been into pro evolution soccer. But I did see that they got a New "MLB POWER PROS" game for the switch, looks like ps2 graphics though.

 

[LeyendaV]

I wonder if that's the only, real reason behind this. In any case, I hope to see all the remaining entries on Steam after this whole thing is fixed.

 

[sley]

So sad that we didn't even get the HD Collection on PS4 at least. All the good games are stuck on PS3 now.