I really wonder how much room there is in Japan for multiple home consoles. After looking at PS2/GC data it seems like they pick one and forget the others exist. The GC and PS3 are tracking very closely with aligned launches as are the PS2 and Wii. I already realized this in a general sense but never realized how close they really fit together. Really disappointing to say the least.

i dont see much concern here isnt mgs series most popular in europe out of the 3 main terroties and like everyone else says its pre orders, more people will buy on the day, also i had feeling mgs 4 would have good legs rather than one hit week wonder sales especially with all the different bundles like theres a 40gb bundle, a 80 gb bundle and the gun metal special edition

i estimate mgs 4 is going to be the biggest selling mgs game, im buying it not even playing any of the ps2 games

@aemeratsu

but PSP & DS are co-existing

 the psp & ds aren't home consoles.

I think everyone should stop throwing accusations around until we know if those figures are retail or consumer.

If consumer figures, than the data we have so far is great - easily along with expectations.
If retail, then Japan's situation is pretty sad, and US just average.

Or, better yet, we could wait until we get more solid (Pun intended?) data.

The Source already stated they were from the same source as their Japanese preliminary sales....meaning they are retail pre-orders, not consumer level.

Well the drop is like 2000. So you could say that this week 2000 people in japan decided to wait to buy a PS3 for 3 weeks and get a game they would like for free....

That's what I'm doing, and by doing it I'm lowering the UK PS3 sales this week by waiting another 3 weeks rather than buying now...

...No?

The Preliminary data we get every Sunday isn't retail pre-orders, they're just estimations on consumer sell-through based on smaller samples then when the final data is posted.

Except the peliminary data has often had retail preorder data in it.  So his meaning is vague still.

The MGS titles are *never* huge in Japan - even with a huge install base. It should do really well in the US & Europe, but its just not the saviour people think it will be (for the PS3).

It may take some time, but I'll be surprised if it *never* makes the cross to the 360...

...

For the launch of MGS4 in Japan, here is a good starting graph. The danger is this - if retailers don't favour the PS3 at the moment, they won't order a LOT of units of MGS - it will sell out, and lose sales in the long term:

http://vgchartz.com/swlaunch.php?reg1=Japan&game1=Metal+Gear+Solid+2%3A+Sons+of+Liberty+-+PS2&reg2=Japan&game2=Metal+Gear+Solid+3%3A+Snake+Eater+-+PS2&reg3=Japan&game3=&weeks=10&weekly=1

MGS2 & MGS3 both launched at around 500k sales for week#1. Given the state of the PS3 install base, I wouldn't be surprised to see MGS4 do about 60% of these numbers - around 300k for week#1. Anything under that will be a serious disappointment.

Also notice how sales drop off 80% to week#2 - a very significant drop-off. MGS4 *may* struggle to sell 500k lifetime in Japan (a poor result for sure).