Metal Gear Solid 4: Will PlayStation 3 Finally Get its Halo 3?

Sony Computer Entertainment has a lot riding on the next mission of the Metal Gear series. Not only does the game’s protagonist Solid Snake have to deal with defective DNA causing him to age prematurely, Solid’s real mission is to bulk up sagging PS3 sales.

The fourth installment of the PS3 exclusive stealth-action series produced by Konami was just released Wednesday. According to the game’s creator Hideo Kojima, MGS4 is to be the last in the series. But you should take Kojima’s statements with a grain of salt. Longtime fans of the franchise will remember he said the same about MGS3.

The MGS franchise has sold more than 22 million copies for various iterations of PlayStation over the years. Because the new game will not be available on competitor’s machines like Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Nintendo’s Wii, Sony hopes this will be the best selling MGS yet.

Among home theater aficionados PlayStation 3 is widely considered the best Blu-ray player on the market. Its sales are head and shoulders above any other Blu-ray player. According to a recent ABI Research study PlayStation 3 makes up 85 per-cent of Blu-ray players sold.

Currently in third place within the multi-billion dollar console games industry Sony desperately needs its Halo 3. Worldwide sales numbers check out like this: 

• 24 Million Wii
• 19 Million Xbox 360
• 13 Million PS3 

The biggest gap is between the second and third position and Sony hopes to catapult its sales into the lead. PS3 boosters insist that because of its more inclusive technology and slightly higher price, Sony’s console is in it for the long haul. They see sales of Wii and Xbox 360 as having peaked where PS3 sales are just getting started. The time to finally strike with PlayStation 3’s killer app is now.

Can Solid Snake Save PS3?

A game console’s killer app is the application (or game in this case) that is so compelling it forces the uninitiated to actually buy the console specifically to play the game. The console’s killer app has to be an exclusive, as MGS4 is to PS3, meaning it cannot be played on any competing console.

For Xbox 360 the killer app was widely seen as Halo 3. According to NPD Group, Halo 3 sold 3.3 million copies in the US in the first 12 days alone. 

A special edition Halo 3 Xbox 360 console was even minted for the Halo 3 hype machine. It’s not surprising that Microsoft might have believed too many aggressive pre-sales predictions over Halo 3. The Special Edition console in Spartan green was to be a limited run but as it turns out they’re still plentiful anywhere Xbox 360 is sold. This is partly because they produced too many but also because of subsequent upgrades to Xbox 360 hardware. 

Worldwide Halo 3 sold more than US$300 million in the first week. Its sales were so successful it helped to more than double sales of Xbox 360 compared to the average week before the launch of Halo 3. 

Sony believes Metal Gear Solid 4 has potential to push gamers over edge and upgrade to PS3. Sony Computer Entertainment is looking for MGS4 to provide the estimated 48 million PlayStation 2 owners an excuse to upgrade to the new system. 

"For us, Metal Gear is arguably one of the most compelling and valuable exclusive titles we have," says Peter Dille, Senior Vice president of Marketing for Sony’s PlayStation. "It's one of those games people wait for years to play. It has never disappointed."

If Konami and Solid Snake feel there’s pressure to move units of PlayStation 3 this summer - here right! But the good news for Sony is that Snake isn’t alone. Another highly anticipated PS3 exclusive looms near, Final Fantasy XIII PS3 exclusive expected by the end of this year. Despite rumors to the contrary, FFXIII will remain a PlayStation 3 exclusive.

While gamers hope Solid Snake can save the world in this installment of MGS4, Sony Computer Entertainment is hoping Snake can save its console.