Earlier this year, source code for Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty was leaked over 20 years after the game’s release. Months later, we still have no idea who’s responsible. Now, Metal Gear publisher Konami is suing to find out.
As first reported by Aftermath, a new complaint, filed on June 2 in California’s Central District Court, names two file hosting websites, pixeldrain.com and buzzheavier.com, as well as 4chan, as the sites where the source code, or links to the source code, were hosted. The company is asking the judge to compel the owners of the sites to help it track down who originally posted the material online and shared it on them.
Though those sites were included in the complaint, they have not been named as the defendants. Instead, Konami named “Does” (as in John / Jane Doe) as the defendants and intends for the suit to help identify who perpetrated the leaks. Konami said in its complaint that it was able to get the sites to take down the leaked materials, but the developer has so far has been unable to compel the websites to turn over any information that might identify the people responsible.
According to the complaint, the leak contained “unauthorized copies of its source code, non-public videogame assets from MGS 2, and internal MGS 2 development materials.” Among the leaked materials was an unreleased port of Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance, an expanded version of the game planned for the Nintendo Wii. Other materials include several different versions of the game, its original E3 trailer, game demos, and more. It’s a truly massive leak, which explains why Konami’s keen to find out who did it.
Produced and written by Geoff Keighley’s best friend, Hideo Kojima, Metal Gear Solid 2 released over 20 years ago. The files in the leak, however, were dated from 2007, suggesting the code may have come from the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection which released in 2011.