The Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection popped up on Steam with a notice it wouldn't support mouse & keyboard before disappearing a half hour later
First reported by PCGamesN, it doesn't look like the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection's PC ports will ship with mouse and keyboard support. Before being taken down, the Steam pages of the three Metal Gear Solid games coming in volume one all had a notice that they were gamepad-only.
No Keyboard controls it seem. Ahhh...Well It doesn't bother me but it probably will bother a few. https://t.co/3mZ7qkaueD pic.twitter.com/PrZv5Iljp3June 21, 2023
SteamDB shows that the pages were made public on June 21 before getting taken down just half an hour later. On June 23, the official Metal Gear Twitter account released a statement that it is "currently working on releasing the pre-order page" and that it "will release details about the page as soon as possible."
The Steam pages still had the games' official release as October 24, and it's not clear why they were removed. Metal Gear fan account LordEmmerich took screenshots of the pages before they went dark, including notices for each game that they will "require a controller in order to play. Playing with a keyboard and mouse isn't supported."
The poorly regarded, original PC ports of MGS 1 and MGS 2: Subsistence both had keyboard controls, but most guides to running the games focus on getting them working with a gamepad. While it would be some frustrating corner cutting from Konami to axe M&K support entirely, I do kind of get it. The games were built with gamepads in mind, and these days even the most die-hard mouse and keyboard gamers do keep a backup gamepad around like John Wick packing a lil sidearm in the old ankle holster.
I'm just confused as to why the pages were taken down—every explanation I can think of is plausible but sounds off. Even if the pages were accidentally launched early, subsequently taking them down has just called attention to it and confused everyone. If the notice about keyboard support was in error, why not address that directly? We'll keep an eye on Konami's official channels for the Master Collection's reappearance on Steam.