Product placement will remain alive and well in Konami’s upcoming and long-awaited modern port of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots will be included in the company’s Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 2, which was revealed during the Sony State of Play earlier this year. This collection will also comprise Metal Gear Ghost Babel and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.
Earlier this week, Japanese writer Mafia Kajita along with voice actor Yuichi Nakamura made their way through the first act of the Master Collection Vol. 2’s version of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, giving us all a quick look at the game’s iPod and Playboy collaboration cameos.
In Metal Gear Solid 4, Snake was able to listen to songs and podcasts on his iPod throughout the game. Evidently, Apple is keen to keep this collaboration going, even if Mp3 players like the iPod have significantly waned in popularity over recent years. What is less clear, though, is what tracks will be included on the port’s release this summer.
During the same playthrough, we also got to see (very briefly) Snake scooping up a Playboy magazine. In the original game, these magazines could be found and then used to distract enemies.
It is unclear right now if other real world product placements, such as American soft drink Mountain Dew, will also be making a return in Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 2.
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots was originally released for the PlayStation 3 back in June 2008, and earlier this year eagle-eyed players noticed that it had apparently been delisted from the PS3 store. The game will become available for modern consoles complete with a boost in frame rate and visuals when Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 2 releases on 27th August across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC (Steam).
In 2023, Konami released Master Collection Vol. 1, which included the first three Metal Gear Solid games plus some extra classics. However, there were some teething issues on its release, with Digital Foundry calling it “anything but masterful”. This was all due to a “litany of issues”, the team said in its review. A number of patches were then released to improve the overall experience.
