Konami is intent on region locking Japanese players out of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance 

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance was made available on GOG on July 4. However, it may surprise players to learn that the 2013 Konami action game cannot be purchased digitally in Japan on neither Steam nor GOG.  

Starting off as a game made by Konami’s in-house Kojima Productions and later developed by Platinum Games (of Bayonetta fame), Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance sees you take control of Raiden (who was first introduced as the surprise protagonist of Metal Gear Solid 2). Rising takes place four years after the events of Metal Gear Solid 4, with Raiden sporting his cyborg ninja exoskeleton. With the high frequency katana as Raiden’s main weapon, Rising’s fast paced action gameplay focuses on agilely slicing your way through enemies – you can even enter a slowed down bullet time mode that allows you to better target enemy weaknesses. 

Back in 2013, the game was originally launched on PS3. Although it has been released on other platforms outside Japan (including Steam and Xbox 360), the only way to play it in its country of origin has been on PS3. However, there seemed to be hope for players in Japan when it was announced that Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance would be available on GOG.com from July 4, 2024, complete with all the DLCs released for the original game. Although the GOG product page was briefly accessible to players in Japan upon its launch at 10 pm (JST), it was suddenly removed shortly after.  

On July 5, Konami Digital Entertainment released a statement to Game*Spark confirming that the GOG version would not be sold in Japan. In other words, the GOG version has the same region restrictions as the Steam version. It seems that the brief period in which Metal Gear Rising was available on GOG to players in Japan was an oversight. Many Japanese commenters on X were disappointed with this decision, with some calling for the abolishment of such region locking (as a sidenote, Japanese games being unavailable in Japan on digital storefronts like Steam has become such a phenomenon that it even has its own slang term). 

If players in Japan want to play Metal Gear Rising today, they need to track down a physical copy of the PS3 version. It seems strange that Konami should prevent a spinoff in one of its most popular series from being rereleased in its country of origin, but maybe they have other plans to make Metal Gear Rising available on modern platforms in the future (perhaps via Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Volume 2?). 

Depending on your region, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is now available on GOG.com. 

Based on the original Japanese article by Taijiro Yamanaka (original article’s publication date: 2024-07-04 23:09 JST)