Metal Gear Solid 4 has always been believed to be a PlayStation 3 exclusive due to the limitations of the Xbox 360, but it’s something that has never been proven. Until now. In “The Ultimate History of Video Games Vol 2” by Steven L. Kent, assistant producer Ryan Payton has stated that there was no exclusivity deal to make Metal Gear Solid 4 appear only on Sony’s console. The decision by Konami was solely based on the choice of disc format for the Microsoft console.
While Sony decided to fully embrace Blu-ray for the PlayStation 3 by including an integrated Blu-ray player in the console, Microsoft took a more cautious approach with the Xbox 360 by including a standard DVD drive and offering a separate HD DVD add-on. As we all know, the format war was ultimately won by Blu-ray, giving Sony the upper hand and positioning the PlayStation 3 as a multimedia platform in addition to a gaming console, thanks to its larger storage capacity compared to its competitors.
In fact, that’s exactly what happened with Metal Gear Solid 4. While a port was technically possible, it was not practical on a physical level. The PlayStation 3 games utilized Blu-ray discs with a capacity of up to 54 gigabytes, while the Xbox 360 DVDs could only hold up to 8.3 gigabytes. This would have required splitting the game across multiple discs, which Konami’s executives were not willing to do.
Additionally, there were individuals within the studio who had a strong preference for Sony and the PlayStation brand in general. This, combined with the technical limitations and the impracticality of creating a multi-disc version, made the port not only unfeasible but outright impossible. There was no one at Konami willing to fight that battle to bring the game to the Microsoft console.
That’s why, if it never materialized, it wasn’t due to any exclusivity contracts or pressure from Sony. It was simply due to the business decisions and preferences of the development studio. This is something that often plays a bigger role in such decisions than the money or deals that any industry giants may offer.
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