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

 

[Marc_LFD]

Amusing, at best, that people get upset about this. If you already bought them digitally you can still download them. And those that didn't? Yeah, the majority of you all didn't give a rats ass about buying them until you read this announcement. Now suddenly these games are a huge deal to you. Not to mention even if delisted and not previously purchased, they are easy enough to get through other methods. Non issue. Nothing to see here.

It is an issue.

If the digital format is the way forward, then how can they want people to support a format where they remove content at any moment?

I regret not buying TMNT Arcade and The Simpsons Arcade on PS3 because I'd like to play it, but it's gone now.

Digital format, great ain't it?

 

[D34DL1N3R]

It is an issue.

If the digital format is the way forward, then how can they want people to support a format where they remove content at any moment?

I regret not buying TMNT Arcade and The Simpsons Arcade on PS3 because I'd like to play it, but it's gone now.

Digital format, great ain't it?

Gone from the store. Not gone. Very big difference. There's really nothing stopping you from playing either of those two games.

 

[rdurbin]

It is an issue.

If the digital format is the way forward, then how can they want people to support a format where they remove content at any moment?

I regret not buying TMNT Arcade and The Simpsons Arcade on PS3 because I'd like to play it, but it's gone now.

Digital format, great ain't it?

If you bought the game, you would still be able to play after it was removed from store and if you haven't downloaded it you are able to re-download it. There is a big difference from the game being removed from store and being unable to play it. If you think about it this does happen with physical games as well. Games are removed from sale from real stores all the time. The main difference between the two is that there is a used marked for physical games (like ebay, amazon, etc) but there is not for digital games (all games are essentially sold as "new")

 

[Marc_LFD]

Amusing, at best, that people get upset about this. If you already bought them digitally you can still download them. And those that didn't? Yeah, the majority of you all didn't give a rats ass about buying them until you read this announcement. Now suddenly these games are a huge deal to you. Not to mention even if delisted and not previously purchased, they are easy enough to get through other methods. Non issue. Nothing to see here.

It is an issue.

If the digital format is the way forward, then how can they want people to support a format where they remove content at any moment?

I regret not buying TMNT Arcade and The Simpsons Arcade on PS3 because I'd like to play it, but it's gone now.

Digital format, great ain't it?

If you bought the game, you would still be able to play after it was removed from store and if you haven't downloaded it you are able to re-download it. There is a big difference from the game being removed from store and being unable to play it. If you think about it this does happen with physical games as well. Games are removed from sale from real stores all the time. The main difference between the two is that there is a used marked for physical games (like ebay, amazon, etc) but there is not for digital games (all games are essentially sold as "new")

With physical games you can still buy them easily, unless it's a limited edition.

 

[D34DL1N3R]

It is an issue.

If the digital format is the way forward, then how can they want people to support a format where they remove content at any moment?

I regret not buying TMNT Arcade and The Simpsons Arcade on PS3 because I'd like to play it, but it's gone now.

Digital format, great ain't it?
With physical games you can still buy them easily, unless it's a limited edition.

You are the only one preventing yourself from playing TMNT Arcade and The Simpsons Arcade on the PS3 or elsewhere.