Konami has confirmed that there will be physical versions of Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1.
As reported by Comic Book, the official Metal Gear Twitter account shared this news:
“METAL GEAR SOLID: MASTER COLLECTION Vol.1 will have physical editions for Nintendo Switch™, PlayStation®5, and Xbox Series X”
As indicated on the official website, Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 is definitely also coming to Steam, but there won’t be a physical disc. Some gamers may remember or actually have Steamworks discs.
While Valve did not state they had ended that initiative, it has been some time since we had seen Steam releases in that format. Of course, with the entry of the Steam Deck, Valve is not particularly incentivized to keep selling physical copies of their games anymore.
The physical Nintendo Switch version may run into some controversy, but this is nothing that Switch owners haven’t run into before. The official website indicates that gamers will have to download most of the content to be able to play the games, listen to the soundtrack, or read the digital books.
The physical version will only have 2.4 GB frontloaded onto the cartridge. You will need to download 24.1 GB in total to play the games in this collection, and yes, not even one of those games are in the cartridge.
The breakdown of file sizes for the games is as follows:
- Metal Gear Solid- Master Collection Version : 4.8GB
- excl. MG&MG2 : 3.4GB
- incl. MG&MG2 : 4.8GB ( Metal Gear & Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake : 1.4GB )
- Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty – Master Collection Version : 8.0GB
- Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater – Master Collection Version : 12.2GB
If you did buy the download version of the collection, it would add up to a more reasonable 26 GB.
The books and soundtrack are an additional 1 GB, and bonus videos, which comprise the digital graphic novels, are 30 GB on top of that.
While non-Nintendo Switch owners may think that Switch owners are getting a raw deal, at this point, they do understand quite clear what they are getting into. Many Switch owners will buy physical versions of these games, which still require digital downloads, to have on their shelves. Most Switch owners, as Nintendo has seen in their data, opt to download most of their games nowadays.
PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X owners don’t have to worry about this, though they may have to ponder that Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 doesn’t even use the full capacity of their discs. It’s not a particularly efficient use of the physical media, though like Nintendo Switch owners, they may be choosing to buy physical to have them on their shelves.
Whichever way you choose, Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 will be releasing on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Windows via Steam, on October 24, 2023.
