A former Metal Gear Solid developer has claimed a project was cancelled at Konami back in 2019.
Over the weekend, it was noted that former Metal Gear series artist and co-director, Ikuya Nakamura, made several tweets referencing an unannounced project at Konami in late 2020. Apparently, one tweet in particular from Nakamura makes mention of a project that was in development for a number of months at Konami in 2019, before being cancelled.
Further tweets from Nakamura indicate that this project was apparently the revival of a specific IP. There aren't any indications as to what this property could be, but further tweets from Nakamura indicate that this project might have been scrapped in favor of developing a brand new title at Konami in the following year.
It's a little difficult to speculate as to what Nakamura could be referring to with these tweets. However, it's interesting to note that the artist has spent virtually his entire career developing the Metal Gear series at Konami, working as an artist on the original Metal Gear Solid all the way through to Metal Gear Survive in 2018, while also stepping into production roles for Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain and Ground Zeroes.
Back in October 2021, a report pointed to a Metal Gear Solid 3 remake being in development at a Singapore-based studio. Rumors of a remake of the original Metal Gear Solid have persisted over the past few years, with nothing ever coming to fruition, but this report claims that Konami has begun outsourcing development of its most prominent franchises, including Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill.
For now though, we'll have to wait a while longer to see if Snake ever does end up returning in any form. While there's no confirmation in Nakamura's tweets that Konami was developing a new Metal Gear Solid game in 2019, the possibility is undoubtedly there, especially from someone who's lengthy career is so intertwined with the beloved series.
Head over to our new games 2022 guide for a complete look at all the games confirmed for launch over the next 10 months.
Metal Gear Solid Delta dev says that Konami wants to make the remake feel familiar but not old: "Our whole goal [...] is to make sure that it still feels like the game that you played 20 years ago"
After Death Stranding and Metal Gear, Hideo Kojima wants to create a game that aliens will look at "centuries later" and say "that's awesome"
