Metal Gear fans were not ready for the surprise Konami had in store for them. During the Feb. 2026 State of Play, the sly developers announced Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2. The MGS community cheered when they saw an elderly Solid Snake who first appeared in the fan-favorite title, MGS4: Guns of the Patriots. It will be co-launching with the PSP underdog, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. Here’s why this installment remained in the playerbase’s hearts for almost two decades.
MGS4 is Considered “The Final MGS Kojima Game”
When the MGS community experienced Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain in 2015, many players were disappointed in its story progression and its mission-based gameplay. After the series’ original creator, Hideo Kojima, departed from Konami, the game’s team was forced to remove content, both finished and unfinished, including a planned ending. The reason behind his resignation was Konami’s direction toward the mobile market over blockbuster games.
And Kojima’s troubles began during the development of MGS4. According to a Metal Gear Solid news archive, he wasn’t interested in producing a sequel after MGS3: Snake Eater. In 2006, he wanted to make a game for the Nintendo Wii. “I’d like to run away from MGS4’s creation and create something for the Wii. Unfortunately, I don’t have anything I could announce at the moment,” he told CVG in 2006.
The Death Stranding director informed game journalists earlier about Konami’s death threats on Nov. 25, 2005. They occurred after he said he would be less involved in the project. “The staff heard about this and got very nervous,” Kojima commented, “We talked as if it was a joke, but at the time, it was not a joke at all. It was serious.”
In the end, he found two reasons to make MGS4. The first one is that Kojima wanted to pursue new projects that didn’t involve writing a new MGS storyline. He described both Solid Snake and Big Boss (Naked Snake) as tired old men. The online archive fan documentary, MGS4: Sold Out, did an excellent job explaining how the series’ creator wanted to portray the characters’ changes after many years of never-ending war and its influences.
His second reason is more heartwarming, and it deeply resonated with gamers. In 2018, GamesRadar journalist Dan Dawkins revisited MGS4’s ending scene. Kojima dedicated the bond of Solid and Big Boss in honor of his father, Kingo Kojima. Kingo was a pharmacist who inspired the game designer to become a filmmaker. Kojima recalled him sculpting plaster models, his joy in watching films with Kingo, and teaching him to have a keen eye for details. He tragically passed on when Kojima was 13 years old.
Why Did It Take Konami 18 Years to Release a New Port?
MGS4 was later heavily criticized for Konami’s neglect after seeing that the game was not available during the PS4 era. Many speculated that the PS3’s hardware would cause limitations for future console and PC ports. MGS3 Delta director Yuji Korekado later clarified the issue when asked about Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2 on Dec. 1, 2025.
He told the Japanese outlet Real Sound, “With losing the original MGS staff, it was challenging to figure out how to continue the series. […] However, given our age and how the number of developers with the knowledge of the Metal Gear series was decreasing, we decided that if we didn’t resurrect the series now, it would become difficult to do so. Because it’s such an incredible series, I decided that now was the time.”
Now with confirmation from the Feb. 2026 State of Play, Korekado and his team will deliver on the request to pull MGS4 out of console lock. The MGS3 Delta team has improved the game’s control scheme to adapt to modern console controllers, including the PS5. The original version had problems with frame rate, which has now been enhanced with the latest gaming hardware, and the game is optimized to be played in higher resolution.
MGS4 will be released on Aug. 27. The Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2 will be playable on the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, PS5, Steam, and Xbox Series X|S.
