MGS4 sells over 4 million copies

By Robert Purchese Published 7 November, 2008

Snake puts in solid performance.

Konami has sold 4.33 million copies of Metal Gear Solid 4 around the world.

The stealthy PS3 exclusive helped Sony's platform account for 38 per cent of Konami games sold between April and September 2008.

This compares favourably to the piddly 1 per cent of Konami games sold on PS3 during the same period last year.

Despite the pulling power of Metal Gear Solid 4, Kojima has maintained that we will definitely not see an Xbox 360 version of the game, despite public support for the idea from Microsoft.

MGS4, which launched back in June, will also be the last of the series helmed by creator Hideo Kojima. He's promised that MGS games will continue to appear, but under the supervision of younger members from his team.

Today also marks the arrival of a PS3 demo of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Better late than never, eh?

Head over to our Metal Gear Solid 4 review to find out more.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (34) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Buztafen #1 3 years ago

    Title.......Ooh dear!

  • cyacomini #2 3 years ago

    Could have been well over 10 million if they had released it on......


    Nope - I'm not going to say it.

  • Darren #3 3 years ago

    That's pretty impressive although didn't Halo 3 sell over 8 million copies at the point where its user base was the same size as the PS3s? Not starting a 360-is-better-than-PS3-nah-nah-nah thread here by the way, I own both consoles, just asking a genuine question?

  • DFawkes #4 3 years ago

    I think Halo 3 did sell more, but that's what you get when you actually get someone to edit your story :p
    As much as I love MGS4, those cutscenes need some serious trimming.
    Edited by 1 at 07/11/08 @ 12:14

  • cyacomini #5 3 years ago

    Darren

    Halo 3 did...

    1.8m in 8 hours
    2.45m in 24 hours

    Not sure what lifetime sales are but if it managed 2.45m in 24 hours I guess it must be a huge number

  • awb83 #6 3 years ago

    the review ? 8/10? i dont care what this site says, MGS4 is not an 8/10 game, it is a 10/10 gmae

  • stevetuck #7 3 years ago

    must of been the demo that did it...

  • drumbaby #8 3 years ago

    I part exed it, half played. I really liked it, but what really peed me off was when I fancied playing a boss battle again from part 2, but had already installed part 3...so I would have had to install part two again.

    No thanks, I thought...back to the shop with MGS4.

  • Aggesan #9 3 years ago

    @Darren
    I'm not sure of the exact figures, but those numbers seems realistic. I think there are several reason Halo 3 sold so much bettar than MGS4. First, Halo 3 attracts a much broader span of gamers. Most people play FPS, but tactical spionage action games are not everyones cup of tea. Also many owners of PS3 bought it simply because it's the best, and one of the cheapest, blu-ray players on the market, and never had any intention to play any games on it. Another thing that probably boosted Halo 3's sales was the enormous marketing behind it. I've never seen a game being so hyped except for maybe Zelda: OoT and Mario 64.

  • cyacomini #10 3 years ago

    Well I thought MGS4 would make me want a PS3 - it didn't in the end though.

    God of War on the other hand had got me interested in the Sony machine. Played through Chains of Olympus on PSP and thought it was bloody brilliant!

  • Triggerhappytel #11 3 years ago

    Wow, I thought it would do well, but that's a massive amount. Is it the biggest-selling PS3 exclusive? Surely must be very high up there.

    Anyway, having just picked up a PS3 I was very pleased to learn about the demo. Will be downloading that tonight :D

  • Trigga_Tybalt #12 3 years ago

    now if only they patch trophies and get rid of the konami id bullshit.

  • Steroyd #13 3 years ago

    That's pretty impressive although didn't Halo 3 sell over 8 million copies at the point where its user base was the same size as the PS3s? Not starting a 360-is-better-than-PS3-nah-nah-nah thread here by the way, I own both consoles, just asking a genuine question?

    Halo is a more popular title overall anyway, MGS is up there in sales figures in general but it doesn't touch either GTA or Halo in a direct comparison.

  • prolific8 #14 3 years ago

    Eurogamer got the name wrong. The correct title is Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the P8riots.

  • DrDamn #15 3 years ago

    Tried the demo last night - can't believe how clunky and archaic the MGS control scheme is still. I should love the games as I like a good stealth-em-up, but this just leaves me frustrated. Lots of other games have shown how this could be done better.

  • DFawkes #16 3 years ago

    My all purpose rule: If you find a control scheme clunky, you're just rubbish at that game. That's a fact :p

  • mfnick #17 3 years ago

    Thats good news then.

    But didnt Fallout 3 manage more than that in its first week? No wonder most games are multi-format these days.

  • Les #18 3 years ago

    Still 'need' to get this. Finished part 3 a month or so ago and really loved it (like I did part one (which I played on GC) and part 2). One of the better games I've ever played even. The stealth gameplay is excellent, camouflage definitely makes the experience more intense (think of the CoD4 level in the ghillie suit).

    The crazy but smart stories really add to the experience IMO but I can understand that they're not everyone's cup of tea.

  • Cappy #19 3 years ago

    Ah, the clunky controls argument.

    I went back and had another go at Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, a game I never got very far into a couple of weeks ago. I found the controls practically unusable whilst I find Metal Gear controls easy. Splinter Cell fans will say entirely the opposite, it all comes down to what you're used to.

  • patchbox360 #20 3 years ago

    solid snake - a hard dick

  • Apologie #21 3 years ago

    yeah, metal gear 4 was a very good game but thouse cutscenes were too damn long... i was so tired of that shit that in the end i even skiped the last one.
    Edited by 1 at 07/11/08 @ 13:47

  • ParanoidZombie #22 3 years ago

    @cappy: that's funny, because i did the same thing, bought Splinter cell 3 a couple weeks ago. Very clunky indeed, but the fact that you can save whenever you want to saves the day IMO, because you don't lose any of your progression if you mess up.

    You can't do that in MGS (if you load your last save, it's back to the last checkpoint, if I remember correctly), which means that even if the controls are slightly better, the game turns out to be more frustrating IMO.

  • JHuxley #23 3 years ago

    I hadn't played an MGS game properly since the MGS2 demo on PS2. While it took me a while to get back in to the swing of things, I was surprised how much I enjoyed the actual game. Brilliant fun, and MGS4 does a good job of keeping things fresh with some great set pieces and novel ideas.

    The cutscenes can get a bit irksome, particularly towards the end *yaaaawn*, but there are some really quite cool bits too. I'm thinking of breakdancing cyborg ninjas here.

  • Triggerhappytel #24 3 years ago

    JHuxley - "breakdancing cyborg ninjas"

    /Orders.

  • Golgo #25 3 years ago

    Every PS3 owner must be buying one to play, one to keep, one to sell on, and one...for good luck?

    ;)

  • DrDamn #26 3 years ago

    @DFawkes
    Well of course I'm crap at the game ... the controls are shit :D.

  • SilentScream #27 3 years ago

    @ evilfoxhound - LBP anyone?

    @DrDamn - Controls haven't changed since the older versions, or at all, inability to adapt to game controls??

  • Rabbinash #28 3 years ago

    MGS4 controls work out pretty well imo. A lot better than MGS3s.
    I finished the game in two days (borrowed it off someone) and would love to get the game (and a PS3) again for another bash at it.

  • DrDamn #29 3 years ago

    @SilentScream
    Well that's kind of the point. They haven't changed much. Where as other games have moved on leaps and bounds.

  • KrispyBacon #30 3 years ago

    The game really was excellent until the end. Glad it sold well.

  • penhalion #31 3 years ago

    Seriously, he best not take this as a queue to do another one!

  • SniperZoz #32 3 years ago

    IMO, the MGS series deserves better ... 4million is not that good when you consider GTA4 sold 3.6m day one, and 6m week one! Now i'de say that GTA > MGS, but still it deserves better and i bet that Konami knows this .... Konjima on the other hand...

  • Marshall2008 #33 3 years ago

    I bought MGS4 when I bought my second PS3 (80gb one, I got rid of my first PS3 as, at the time, there were no games out for it) played it, thought is was shit and took it back. There are so many of them returned that game and gamestation will only give you a tenner if you trade it in.

    At least LBP looks like it will have some staying power.

    (let me extrapolate on shit: It was about as exciting as watching paint dry. The dialog was awful the visuals were meh, gameplay non-existent, Kojima obviously wants to direct movies but he is worse than Uwe Boll. Oh and dont forget the gay as fuck undertone running through the game, Snakes mankini, the cock grabbing, and ground humping)
    Edited by 1 at 09/11/08 @ 01:18

  • butler` #34 3 years ago

    LBP, being aimed at casual/creative/slightly younger demographic, is probably only going to sell 'OK' considering the average PS3 gamer is a F1 watching, MGS4 playing, decidedly middle-aged 20 something.

    Plus, it's against Fable 2 + 360 for the ridiculous sum of 140ish quid.