Its hard to find the exact data because different sites say different numbers.

Wikipedia says they shipped over 6 million copies of MGS1 on Vgchartz the sales are around 5.6 million, but some say its sold like abover 7,8 million.

On Vgchartz MGS2 has the same sales as MGS1 but on Wiki it says it sold over 7 million copies, which ive seen people say was around that number.

But then MGS3 is at 4 million, why so low? It came out when PS2 was probably at its most popular, yet it sold so much less.

MGS3 was also said to be one of the best PS2 games, and it had fantastic reviews and most think its better than MGS2. But as for MGS2 that game aswell got fantastic reviews, yes it was very complicated and i know many didnt like Raiden (i found him ok) but it was still great.

MGS2 = mass media overhyping, high expectation du to MGS1

MGS3 = lower expectation du to MGS2 being partially disapointing, end of PS2

It faced some serious competition (Halo 2, GTA: San Andreas, Metroid Prime 2) when it came out. Plus, a lot of people didn't feel it was as mindblowingly innovative, like MGS1 (first game in the new series), MGS2 (most visully impressive PS2 game at the time). It was viewed as "another Metal Gear". Plus, the hype wasn't there. It's a shame, really. I still think it's possibly the best storyline in a game, ever.

MGS3 was probably the best visually on PS2 as well all the MGS games on consoles have always been the best the console has to offer.

Also i imagine that some people were put off by the fact in MGS2 Snake was not the main character and Raiden was and assumed that the 3rd game would continue this unwanted twist... Just guessing here

Wow! I believe it was possibly under tracked first and foremost, second I believe the reason it did not sell as high as previous games is because it came out in the same year as San Andreas on the ps2. That game is a monster and probably took sales from it's sales overall.

I liked MGS 1, and HATED MGS 2

so i skipped MGS 3

still wanna play it again, most likely will

but that is why i didnt buy it

I think at the time it was released the ps2 was at the end and people were looking next gen and just overlooked this title. It was a good game, I was late to the party however because I hated part 2.

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and GTA: San Andreas released on the same year if I recall correctly.

*EDIT: Oh what the heck. I had the thread opened and forgot to refresh and check for recent posts before posting this. @_@

Why did people hate MGS2 it was a great game.

MGS4 came out in 04 there was no next gen by then.