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Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is considered to be one of the best exclusives for Sony’s PS3 console, but it very nearly wasn’t exclusive at all. In fact, claims made by Ryan Payton in Steven L Kent’s book The Ultimate History of Video Games Vol 2 suggest that it was only really locked on Sony’s hardware due to being printed on Blu-Ray. It could have actually come to Microsoft’s hardware had the producers not heavily preferred Sony’s. The information was recently spotlighted by TimeExtension, and it certainly makes for fascinating reading that comes as a big surprise.
Payton stated that there wasn’t an exclusivity deal and that the game has to be released solely on the PlayStation 3. Instead, the decision was influenced by a practical and technical matter, the number of discs required to put the game on any other console. Konami had established a team dedicated to exploring the possibility of porting Metal Gear Solid 4 to the Xbox 360, and according to Payton, it ran great!
Payton said:
They [his colleagues] believed Metal Gear Solid 4 would look and run terribly on Microsoft’s older and inferior hardware. One fateful day, the Konami R&D team hosted a meeting where we got to see the fruits of their labor – Metal Gear Solid 4 running beautifully and smoothly on an Xbox 360.
Running Metal Gear Solid 4 On Xbox 360
While the technical feasibility of the Metal Gear Solid 4 port existed, it posed practical challenges on a physical level. The PS3 games were distributed on Blu-ray discs, capable of storing up to 54GB of data, whereas the Xbox 360 employed DVD-ROM discs with a significantly lower capacity of only 8.3GB. So putting Metal Gear Solid 4 on the Xbox 360 would have required a lot more discs, maybe 4 or 5, something Konami wasn’t so keen on. And these days even Blu-ray discs aren’t enough anymore.
Jack Tretton echoed this sentiment when he said:
Metal Gear Solid 4 is not only exclusive on PS3, it’s only possible on PS3 thanks in part to Blu-ray.
So in an alternate universe where Microsoft decided to switch to Blu-ray from the 360 era, Metal Gear Solid 4 is being played on Xbox 360. It is one of the greatest travesties in gaming history that a masterpiece like Metal Gear Solid 4 has remained a true exclusive to the PS3. It never made it to another console, even Sony’s later PS4 or PS5, let alone PC.
The Bright Future Of The Metal Gear Solid Series
Fans may have missed a lot of Metal Gear games in the past, but it seems like that won’t be happening again. Because Konami recently announced the upcoming release of a remake called Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater, which will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
Konami will also release the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection series. The first volume of this collection will include Metal Gear Solid 1-3 from the PS2 era, as well as the original Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2 from the 80s. If there is ever a volume 2 of the Master Collection, it might just bring Metal Gear Solid 4 back for the masses. And not require you to exhume your PS3 to relive those fond memories.