MGS4 Producer: I never told Reuters that

wohoo | February 08, 2008 | News | Playstation 3 Company

Reuters seems to have pulled a quote from Metal Gear Solid assistant producer Ryan Payton out of where the sun don't shine. They quoted Payton saying that MGS4 needs to sell 1mil on day one to turn a profit. Payton denies it.

More gasoline was added to the fire when MGS4 assistant producer Ryan Payton said in an interview with Reuters that in order for the game to be profitable, MGS4 would have to sell 1 million copies on the first day of its release. Fanboys, analysts, videogame editors, and forum jockey’s were left scratching their heads wondering why MGS4 could only turn a profit if a million were sold on it’s release date. The fires of discussion continued to burn and and speculation raged on.

News Story attached to:

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots [PS3]

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0 thumbs!
Seeker X | February 08, 2008

Payton's been a target for quite a while now, poor guy. This, the demo that was "supposed" to come out this month, he's had to tie up a lot of loose ends that are not really his fault
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iLLmatic | February 09, 2008

Which brings it all back to this mysterious quote to begin with. WHY would anything, not just a game, but any product have to sell 1 millions copies in it's first day of availability? If you can answer that, with logic that makes sense, then you can make a proper assumption on this "he said, she said" debate going on right now.

Metal Gear Solid 4 will sell more than 1 millions copies total, we all know that. Now, lets say the game sells 8 million copies overall. Surely this will make their [devs] money back. If this is the case, then why does it matter how many copies are sold the first day? Someone has to answer this for me. There isn't a deadline to make money on a product, in terms of profitability, as long as that same product continues to sell. They would only have to worry if the game flops and doesn't sell anywhere near their total estimates. It isn't as if this one project is digging into Konami's pockets so deeply that is has become dead weight and is holding back the company as a whole.
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Seeker X | February 09, 2008

Finalblade...what they've been trying to tell you is that you don't have a basis of argument. That quote? It says nobody actually says that it was off the record, hell nobody *bleep*ing knows where it came from, and knowing Payton, makes it very likely that it was bullshit.
1 thumbs!
Gothic Girl | February 09, 2008

The original article sounded pretty iffy to begin with. It doesn't make sense that they need to sell 1 million copies in one day. Why do they need a million in only one day? Why not a week? Or a month? They're going to make a profit anyways, regardless of the timeframe the million copies are sold in.
It's good that Payton cleared it up, at least.
- 1 thumbs!
  Bri | February 10, 2008
  
  Exactly. Video games aren't CD's, they don't need to sell a million a week to stay on top and make a profit. Gmaes like MGS have insane critical acclaim. We can agree it's one of the greatest series within the video game realm. I know many gamers after me who picked up MGS 1, 2 and 3 years after their releases all those years ago, and that means that there's still money flowing in. MGS4 will work the same if it gives the series the closure it promises. Gamers will still pick it up.
0 thumbs!
shaka | February 11, 2008

They dont have to worry about sales, have you seen the latest videos.

OMG cant wait GOTY for 2008.