Of the numerous games released in theMetal Gear Solidseries,Metal Gear Solid 4is a particularly interesting title. Other than being available to play via PlayStation Now,Metal Gear Solid 4never circulated outside the PlayStation 3. For the longest time, fans of the series thought thatMetal Gear Solid 4was meant to be a PlayStation exclusive, but according to new information, that wasn’t actually the case.
Most in the gaming community considerMetal Gear Solida Sony exclusive property given its consistent presence on Sony’s platforms, but plenty of games in the series have found their way onto other platforms. For instance,Metal Gear Solid 2received cross-platform releases on both the PlayStation 2 and the original Xbox back when it first launched in the early 2000s. Though, in the case ofMetal Gear Solid 4, its exclusivity on the PlayStation 3 is considerably more circumstantial.
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Ryan Payton, a former Kojima Productions employee, revealed in an interview with ResetEra thatMetal Gear Solid 4was never a Sony exclusive title. Payton would later explain that the people Hideo Kojima, the creator of theMetal Gear Solidseries, answered would have gladly approved a port ofMetal Gear Solid 4to the Xbox 360, but Kojima made the conscious decision not to do so.
A radio show appearance that Kojima did back in 2013 recently surfaced as well, where Kojima explained that anXbox 360port ofMetal Gear Solid 4was next to impossible, due to the Xbox 360’s hardware limitations. The PS3 was the first console to ever use Blu-Ray discs, which managed to hold massive amounts of game data, compared to the Xbox 360, which was still using DVD discs.
Therefore, the lack of cross-platform support forMetal Gear Solid 4ultimately came down to technological differences between the PS3 and the Xbox 360. It’s amazing how the public perception ofMetal Gear Solid 4’sexclusivity was unintentionally askew, but then again, it’s easy to see why. Nowadays, especially, PlayStation’s exclusive titles such asUncharted 4, Persona 5,andGhost of Tsushimaare what sets PlayStation apart from other publishers.
In any case, it will be interesting to see ifMetal Gear Solid 4’spresence remains deadlocked on PS3. It’s hard to know whatKonamihas in store for theMetal Gear Solidseries if anything. As of late, Konami has barely done anything with its strongest franchises likeMetal Gear Solid, Silent Hill,orCastlevania. Thus, it’s unlikely thatMetal Gear Solid 4will move from the platform it’s on.
Metal Gear Solid 4is available now exclusively for the PlayStation 3.
