'Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes' sales numbers impressed game media

Konami announcement that Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes sold over a million units across all platforms has surprised many experts in the gaming media. Major news sites have expressed their surprise that the game sold well despite the firstomer regarding its short game time.

[stanr]

Metal Gear Solid V sales were high and it has shocked the gaming media given the firestorm caused by its short game time. Is this a bad thing for gamers since it shows negative attention doesn't harm sales or does it show MGS fans loyalty?

[porkChop]

The sales weren't high. It's the lowest selling MGS to date. And that's across 4 consoles with a combined userbase of over 170 million. And these "1 million" sales aren't actually sales, it's how many copies have been shipped to retailers. Meaning the actual sales are lower.

[stanr]

While sales were low compared to previous games, I think most game experts expected the game to financially tank.

[KonsoruMasuta]

Even when selling less than the previous games, it did well for an "overpiced demo". If it hasn't hit 1 million yet, it will soon.

The money spent on development of it was probably a small amount compared to other projects, and it will bring in some change for Konami.

[Razmossis]

I got this game for 24 pounds
Everyone complaining that KojiPro are now the devils of the gaming world for actually putting a price tag on it, the game is great!

I also got the HD Collection for around just 30 pounds. It includes
MGS2: Sons Of Liberty
MGS2: Substance
MGS3: Snake Eater
MGS: Peace Walker
Metal Gear
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake

6 games and hundreds of hours of gameplay for 30 pound.
I think its time to stop complaining. Or at least call it even

[randomass171]

No one is questioning that GZ is a fun game, but it's also only an hour or two of fun content. And not everyone thinks that that is worth the $30. Especially when for only another $20 you could get the Legacy collection and basically, as you said, hundreds of hours worth of content and then some.

[Septic]

It was a rip off. For 24 quid even, it was a rip off. It should have cost £10 quid max. People just paid for a demo (a good one but still just a demo). I really hope this doesn't make other devs follow suit.

[Joe913]

MGS fans loyalty. I said this before and I will say it again what they did can only be done with a game with a long history and a whole bunch of very loyal fans I always thought MGS and GTA could do this but I do not think Konami can do it again a lot of fans were made about this and if they continue to do so will only make more and more fans angry now if they did this and made it more like $15 then it would be fine but not $30 I have had a blast playing it but I can see for someone who just wanted to see the next part of the story being upset with the length of the game.

[ado908]

Now its gonna be a trend thanks to it and the consumers buying it watch, they will start charging for demos lol

[KonsoruMasuta]

It was already a trend. Ever hear of the Gran Turismo Prologue?

Before anybody says anything, yes Gran Turismo Prologue did offer more content than GZ. It was still not enough for the $40 price they asked for.

[randomass171]

The sad thing is that Dead Rising's prologue and epilogue DLC missions were priced much more fairly at $5 than GZ and GT. THAT should have been a trend, not overcharging the price of admission.

[SSJBen]

....

You're gonna compare a car game which has zero storyline to a game with one of the most complex and convuluted storyline in gaming history? Like really?

You lose nothing by not playing Prologue, other than "honing" your skills. But GT Academy was never announced anyway during Prologue's time, so there wasn't such thing as gamer -> pro racer thing going on.

But you stand to lose on knowing what happened in GZ prior to TPP, of which is an important part of the story. That's the bloody difference here.

[nevin1]

Kojima/Konami's reaction

[randomass171]

Probably Konami more so than Kojima. They constantly make him do things he doesn't want to do. He's wanted to do non-Metal Gear stuff for a while and they won't let him off without getting someone else to do the new games.

[sweetSWAGGER]

Okay, that was funny.

[Sclavius]

I can't wait till more companies chop off their prologues and charge for them.

[Aleithian]

Why assume that other "prologues" will sell? I bought GZ because it was an MGS game. I trust Kojima and the MGS brand. If Resident Evil 7 Prologue comes out, like hell am I buying that. Same goes for Dragon Age 3 Prologue, or Final Fantasy XV Prologue, or whatever. If Elder Scrolls VI Prologue comes out, I'll consider it. The success of Gran Turismo Prologue and GZ reduced entirely to the trust fans have in the series, combined with a desire or the product. These facts don't replicate across the board.

[mhunterjr]

sure, quite a few prologues will Fail, but that doesn't means this isn't the start of an alarming trend.

What if metal gear solid 6 is sold as 8 ground zeros sized installments, all $40 a piece? Now Konami has the data to suggest that such an approach might work

[randomass171]

The point is GZ, as an overpriced one or two hour long experience, DID sell in spite of its price controversy. This is clearly a nickel and dime approach to games that I do not support, and it encourages publishers to basically cut off a portion of the game to sell for a large price later. Here's an extreme scenario: What is stopping from them forcing gamers to buy the end of MGSV instead of including it as part of the game? That's what games like GZ encourages.

[Aleithian]

@mhunterjr

Then it wouldn't sell.

@randomass171

"Forcing"?

[SpiralTear]

@mhunterjr

You're using a smaller example to extrapolate for a much bigger situation. If you think that anyone would buy eight Ground Zeroes-sized installments at the current GZ price each, you must have zero faith in the consumer market.

Consumers might be generally uninformed, but saying they'd cave for that big a rip-off is pretty much saying the market's collective IQ is in the double digits tops.

[GrandpaSnake]

Very well said, some of the people here are not really fans of metal gear if their complaining. Nobody else would be able to pull this off. The journalist scum who went on a smear campaign against kojima(yes i feel their is much more to this)failed! I bought the ps3 version of this and i have over 20 hours of fun and with the new free mission i am pretty sure it will add to that. People still acting like its only two hours are a complete joke.

With that said I don't agree with the price for a prologue. The only other prologue I purchased was Gran turismo and online made it really worth it to me. With this game i'm pretty much just trying to get up on the online leader boards and still trying to find the patches, its actually very tricky even with the night vision goggles.

[randomass171]

@Aleithian Okay, "trying to swindle." Or you could call it keeping it behind a pay wall. There, fixed it.

@GrandpaSnake And how much of that 20 hours is you replaying the same missions on different difficulties over and over? For half the price of a full retail game, that doesn't cut it, that is pandering and it is expected for any game, not just a 2 hour prologue/demo. Furthermore, who are you to determine who the real fans are? I've been a fan of the series since the original Solid game on PSOne. I own the entire Legacy collection on PS3. I still think GZ was a complete cash grab and that they should have released it as a $5 download like Case Zero and Case West.

[Aleithian]

@randomass171

A "paywall" that comes down over time, and would likely vanish when an updated version of the game comes out. If someone pays full price at launch, they are making an economic calculation regarding the value of the game *at this time* vs. the value of the game *at some future time*. No company can "force" a consumer or "manipulate" a consumer into paying full price at launch. If you don't like the deal that the company is offering at launch, wait. And assiduously avoid all news regarding the game to avoid spoilers.

For instance, I have yet to play The Last of Us. I don't deny that it's a great game, but the look of it didn't grab me. So I chose to wait, hoping in addition that a PS4 version would release. So now I'll wait till that drops to $40 and get it on PS4. A simple calculation. I have limited funds, and I'd rather spend them on other things.

By contrast, GZ will release, eventually, in a combined pack with PP. At the very least it will be on sale at some point for $10. Regardless, I bought it Day 1 on PS4. Why? Because I value it that much. There was no paywall or manipulation or force. I took charge of my finances and my values, and made my choice on an open market.

If you don't like what the company is offering, if you don't like the idea that prologues will release in the future, then don't buy them. GZ hasn't sold that well. The early adopters were the big fans, like me, for whom the value of the game is there. The rest will pick it up for $10-15 or as part of the PP combined edition. Simple. They make their choice - HAVE made their choice. The market, that is, has worked. Which is simply to say, THE PEOPLE have worked. They made their choices. You might not like those choices, you might not like that I chose to buy the game on Day 1, but I can spend my money as I please. It doesn't always work out (Dragon Age 2 for instance). But it did this time.

[josephayal]

Im Sorry but This game would be good for $2.99

[Dirtnapstor]

I paid $20 for my PS4 copy. And I enjoyed it. I don't think Phantom Pain will be a full $60 retail, I also think there will be a generous perk for having had purchased and retained your copy of GZ.
How many of us have bought a "full game" at $60 and then burned through the campaign in a matter of hours?
Was the cost for GZ steep? Yes. But this instance is not the first example of a $/hr mismatch.

[cyclindk]

I'm fairly certain every dime of those sales were profit though... I mean the game is essentially just using assets from what's to be in the Phantom pain, right down to animations. So if they sold one copy, = profit.

They are going to recycle it all back into the FULL game and more.

Anyway, I bought it and played it more than any other game I have bought this gen except for Black Flag (and not counting multiplayer games). Only on 23 percent completion. And I'm by no means a Metal Gear fanatic.

[RockmanII7]

Brand loyalty is a powerful thing.

[cyclindk]

True, in certain cases though, it is justified, or at least "safe." Kojima has, in my lifetime, never worked on a game that released that wasn't of a high caliber.

[breakpad]

why not?? ..the game maybe short but his quality is OVER the top ..surpasses every militeristic themed game with ease ..Kojima never makes smthing without quality in it