Metal Gear Solid 5 servers on PS3 and Xbox 360 are being taken offline.
As announced earlier today through the official Konami website, the servers for Metal Gear Solid 5 on PS3 and Xbox 360 will be shut down over the course of a few months. The first stage of the servers being shut down actually begins right now, as players on both PS3 and Xbox 360 are unable to make in-game purchases in Metal Gear Solid 5.
The next stage rolls out on November 30, when Metal Gear Online will be taken down from storefronts on PS3 and Xbox 360. Metal Gear Online was the standalone multiplayer component for Metal Gear Solid 5, which launched a few months after the game first debuted in September 2015.
The third phase for this process is Metal Gear Solid 5 being wholly removed from PS3 and Xbox 360 storefronts next year on March 1, 2022. Then, finally, servers for existing players on both platforms will be terminated on May 31, 2022, bringing the curtain down on both Metal Gear Solid 5 and Metal Gear Online on both platforms.
Goodnight, sweet prince. Reflecting back on things, it's sometimes strange to remember that Konami actually managed to get Metal Gear Solid 5 working on both the PS3 and Xbox 360, considering it's a massive semi-open-world game with a slate of intangible systems working off one another at any given time. If you want one last marvel at that old-gen technology, there's plenty of time for existing players to enjoy Metal Gear Solid 5 and Metal Gear Online until May 2022, and servers for more modern consoles will remain available for now.
If Metal Gear Solid ever does return, under Konami or anyone else, here's our Metal Gear Solid 6 wishlist detailing everything we'd love to see if the series returns.
