Thanks to the recent Master Collection that brought back Metal Gear Solid, 2: Sons of Liberty, and 3: Snake Eater to PS5, PS4, the MGS series from Konami is easier to access than ever before. By way of PS5 backwards compatibility, Ground Zeroes and V: The Phantom Pain are playable too. However, there's something missing in the timeline: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
A game originally released for PS3 in 2008, it's never been ported to any other system. There has been no remaster, no port, no remake. If you want to play the fourth story-concluding instalment of the Metal Gear Solid franchise, your only option is to play it on a PS3. Given the fairly unique architecture of the console, the game is essentially stranded there.
The hope amongst the fanbase is that a second volume of the recent Master Collection will port Guns of the Patriots to modern consoles, along with other titles like Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and Peace Walker. When asked if this will be the case by IGN, Konami producer Noriaki Okamura responded stating the company is "aware" of the "situation" regarding Metal Gear Solid 4. "Unfortunately we can't really say too much at the moment with Vol. 1 containing MGS 1-3 dot dot dot... you can probably connect the dots," he continues. “Right now we still are internally concerned about what we should be doing for the future of the series. So sorry, we can't really reveal anything at the moment. But stay tuned!"
Okamura was fielded the question as part of an interview about Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, a faithful remake of the third entry on PS2. We also had the chance to play its opening Virtuous Mission and found it to be "fiercely loyal" in every regard. "Without the need for gameplay or story changes, what Konami and Virtuos are doing is tweaking near-perfection," we said. "On the basis of the Virtuous Mission, they are going about the endeavour in the correct manner."