Where does he state that? We never had costumer pre-order numbers in the past. Why should there be any change with MSG4? I thinks its definitely retail preorders.

Anyone knows how many gun metal PS3 bundles were produced for the occasion since there are already sold out in Japan ?

And how many for the US ?

i think  it was more like 500k and those were store pre-orders

They were 700k+ I remember, and people based their predictions on it. I learnt not to go by retail preorder numbers anymore.

Sounds promising. 200K for its first week would make MGS4 easily the fastest selling PS3 game for Japan. Hopefully the release will push many hardware sales.

There aren't enough LE bundles being made to make a significant difference in overall 1st day sales although the 80GB MGS4 bundles could, depending on how many Sony ships.

There aren't any exact figures on how many LE bundles were made, but they're being distributed via direct mail from Japan through Konami only, so that should tell you something right there. The only numbers I've heard suggested only in the tens of thousands.

Install base is going to cause a very rapid drop off. Figure most sales after the debut will be due to MGS4 80GB bundles.

Well, these are most likely retail pre-orders but still, it doesn´t indicate bad sales. If the game sells 250k copies during the first week (in case retailers sell out and order another shipment) that would be great.

Again, retailers are carefull with pre-orders for Playstation 3 games: Most sequels underperformed compared to their PS2 counterparts, that´s why retailers are carefull now. If the game sells 600k units lifetime that would be a great result. Honestly, this game will sell best in Europe and Europe is gonna be the deciding factor here. Most likely not Japan.

If the LE bundles sell out this = 300K in 1st week sales

we're just gonna have to wait & see

Metal Gear Solid (PS): 350k first week, 780k LTD.
Metal Gear Solid 2 (PS2): 470k first week, 850k LTD.
Metal Gear Solid 3 (PS2): 494k first week, 860k LTD.

It looks like first week sales are a good indication of total sales for this franchise. LTD sales seem to be around twice the first week sales. 

@NJ5

thanks for those numbers,.