A few months back, an incredibly impressive trailer for a fan-made remake of the original Metal Gear Solid hit the Web, and it was every Metal Gear fan's dream come true. Featuring all-new visuals and gameplay, it was set to show what the original game may have looked like had it released in current times.
For an idea of how much attention this project got, the first trailer for Shadow Moses, as it's called, has received nearly a million views on YouTube. Unfortunately, it looks like it attracted the wrong kind of attention as well, and as a result, fans will never get the chance to play the project for themselves. In a recent Facebook post, the team behind project Shadow Moses revealed that the game has been cancelled. The team's post was brief and to the point:
"We have to cancel the Shadow Moses project for reasons beyond our control," it states. "We would like to thank everyone for the tremendous support we have received."
The team doesn't go into any further details as to "why" the plug on the project is being pulled, but it seems fairly easy to assume that it may have something to do with Metal Gear rights owner Konami not wanting fans to use its intellectual property.
Sadly, this sort of thing happens all the time. Though the team behind Shadow Moses wasn't seeking to make money off of its Metal Gear Solid love letter, Konami may very well have plans in the future to create its own remake of the original game. Even if it doesn't, it's not hard to see why it might not want a full-blown high-quality remake of one of its games floating around the Web for free.
Whether or not Konami was involved remains a mystery for now (though most fans commenting on the post assume the publisher is indeed to blame), but the cancellation of Shadow Moses certainly won't help the company win any new fans. Ever since Konami's treatment of Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima last year (which involved removing his name from box art for Metal Gear Solid games, preventing him from claiming awards), fans of Konami's most popular franchise have directed an almost unending flow of hate toward the publisher. If Konami is indeed involved in shutting down this labor of love fan project, you can bet even more sparks will fly.
