14 DAY TRIAL // Konami's Metal Gear Solid 4, one of the most awaited games of 2008, designed exclusively for the PlayStation 3 console, should sell one million copies in the first day after its release, according to the assistant producer of the game, Ryan Payton, in an interview with Reuters.
First of all, it must be noted that Metal Gear Solid 4 is a so-called third party exclusive, as opposed to "first party exclusives" produced by console makers like Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo. And since the dawn of time these console manufacturers have tried their best to secure such exclusive ways of game distribution.
But now, with tough competition between the game consoles and the lower sales of the PlayStation 3, it's getting harder for third party games like Metal Gear to turn a profit or even to break even. And that is one of the reasons why Sony said it has been preparing for the demise of these types of games for a long time.
As far as Ryan Payton is concerned, the whole issue is crystal clear: " The PlayStation brand has always been good to us, and we're pretty bullish on the PS3. We're telling our fans that if you want to play 'Metal Gear Solid 4', you have to buy a PS3". Well.. that's one interesting point of view!
Now, back to the one million sold units needed by Metal Gear in the first day, things don't seem to look that good: only 3.2 million PS3's were sold this year in the United States, while Nintendo's Wii's sold 5.2 million and Xbox 360 got an incredible 7.2 million sales. Added to this is the fact that only 2 games for PlayStation 3 sold over 1 million copies until now and successful game titles like "Grand Theft Auto", "Virtua Fighter and "Devil May Cry", former PS3 exclusive are now appearing on rival consoles.
The actual reason such high sales are needed by the MGS game is the ever growing price of game production, which costs now up to 50 million US dollars.