Konami

How many copies did Metal Gear sell? — 2023 statistics

Sneaking into the hidden metrics of tactical espionage in Metal Gear series.

Fact-checked
First Released
July 13, 1987
Genre
Action-adventure
Developer
Konami
Publisher
Konami

This is the first time we’ve discussed this specific genre of videogame, but hey, first time for everything. Of course, we’re talking about the Metal Gear series, a techno-thriller series that revolves around one of two protagonists — Solid Snake or Big Boss. The games themselves are very heavy on science-fiction, and depict the specificities of their world to a vast degree. The first game came out way back in 1987, developed by Hideo Kojima and Konami. Since then, there have been 19 games in the series and it has established itself as one of the most memorable and exciting sci-fi series around. In honor of it, we are going to display some Metal Gear statistics so you can see exactly how the series has been performing since the first game came out. If you’re interested in more topics aside from specific games, what about finding out the major drivers of gaming industry revenue?

Metal Gear key stats

So, what are we going to be talking about specifically? Well, we will dive into how many copies the mainline games have sold since the first, and how much money the series has generated for Konami. Aside from that, we’ll also include any relevant news postings about the game, from numbers to new information.

The Metal Gear series has sold over 58.9 million copies.

(Source: VG Sales)

  • Metal Gear sold 1 million copies.
  • Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake sold 1.3 million copies.
  • Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance sold 6.5 million copies.
  • Metal Gear Solid sold 7 million copies.
  • Metal Gear Solid 2 sold 8.6 million copies.
  • Metal Gear Solid 3 sold 6.2 million copies.
  • Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots sold 6 million copies.
  • Metal Gear Solid HD Collection sold 1.2 million copies.
  • Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes sold 5.3 million copies.
  • Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain sold 9.6 million copies.
  • Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker sold 3.4 million copies.
  • Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops sold 1.3 million copies.
  • Metal Gear Survive sold 700,000 copies.
  • Metal Gear: Ghost Babble sold 57,000 copies.

This is the first point at which to start gauging the Metal Gear series — the sales. We can see that all of the games have been quite successful in their respective release years and that Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain was the most successful game in the series and that it sold only 1 million more copies than Metal Gear Solid 2. Overall, nearly 60 million sales across the entire series are fantastic!

The Metal Gear series has grossed over $138.7 million on Steam.

(Source: VG Insights)

  • Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain grossed $76.2 million.
  • Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance grossed $40.6 million.
  • Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes grossed $19.1 million.
  • Metal Gear Survive grossed $2.8 million.

High sales come with high profits, and we can see that only 4 of the Metal Gear games that have available data on Steam have generated some impressive profits, with Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain leading the pack again and generating nearly $80 million.

Metal Gear Solid V increased Konami’s profits by 150%.

(Source: Games Industry)

  • Following the 6 million sales milestone for Metal Gear Solid V, Konami saw increases in profit in quite a few sectors.
  • The digital entertainment sector saw an increase in profits of 93.4 billion yen ($665.2 million).
  • The year prior noted profits of 67.9 billion yen ($483.6 million).

We’ve mentioned Metal Gear Solid V a few times, but the only way to emphasize the sheer success of this game enough is to drive Konami’s profits up to such an extent that it is newsworthy. A 150% increase in profits is no joke, and it just cements MGS V’s reputation.

The Metal Gear games have over 8 million hours watched on Twitch in their best years.

(Source: SullyGnome)

  • Metal Gear had 132,000 hours watched in 2022.
  • Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake had 182,000 hours watched in 2019.
  • Metal Gear Solid had 1.3 million hours watched in 2022.
  • Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty had 1.37 million hours watched in 2022.
  • Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance had 330,000 hours watched in 2022.
  • Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater had 1.18 million hours watched in 2021.
  • Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots had 1 million hours watched in 2022.
  • Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance had 2.37 million hours watched in 2022.
  • Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain had 1.8 million hours watched in 2016.

And for the final line of stats, we can see that MGS V is the most popular Metal Gear game on Twitch, with 1.2 million hours watched, and some of the other games have gotten relatively close, but, as in many other matters, MGS V takes the cake!

To sum up

Okay, that would be all we have to say about the Metal Gear series and all of the sales that it has gathered since the first game was released, mostly focusing on Metal Gear Solid V as it was the latest game in the series as we wait for updates regarding Metal Gear Solid VI. Until then, we’ll be sure to update this with any and all newly available information. We sincerely hope that you have learned something new about this series and that all of your questions have been answered!

Sources

  • “Metal Gear Solid”. VG Sales, 2023, https://vgsales.fandom.com/wiki/Metal_Gear_Solid
  • “METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN – Steam Stats”. VG Insights, 2023, https://vginsights.com/game/287700
  • “METAL GEAR RISING: REVENGEANCE – Steam Stats”. VG Insights, 2023, https://vginsights.com/game/235460
  • “METAL GEAR SOLID V: GROUND ZEROES – Steam Stats”. VG Insights, 2023, https://vginsights.com/game/311340
  • “METAL GEAR SURVIVE – Steam Stats”. VG Insights, 2023, https://vginsights.com/game/543900
  • “MGS V sells 6m, pushes Konami digital profits up by 150%”. GamesInsdustry, 2016, https://www.gamesindustry.biz/mgs-v-sells-6m-pushes-konami-digital-profits-up-by-150-percent
  • “Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain”. SullyGnome, 2022, https://sullygnome.com/game/Metal_Gear_Solid_V_The_Phantom_Pain/2022
  • “Metal Gear”. SullyGnome, 2022, https://sullygnome.com/game/Metal_Gear/2022
  • “Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake”. SullyGnome, 2019, https://sullygnome.com/game/Metal_Gear_2_Solid_Snake/2019
  • “Metal Gear Solid”. SullyGnome, 2022, https://sullygnome.com/game/Metal_Gear_Solid/2022
  • “Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty”. SullyGnome, 2022, https://sullygnome.com/game/Metal_Gear_Solid_2_Sons_of_Liberty/2022
  • “Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance”. SullyGnome, 2022, https://sullygnome.com/game/Metal_Gear_Solid_2_Substance/2022
  • “Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater”. SullyGnome, 2021, https://sullygnome.com/game/Metal_Gear_Solid_3_Snake_Eater/2021
  • “Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots”. SullyGnome, 2022, https://sullygnome.com/game/Metal_Gear_Solid_4_Guns_of_the_Patriots/2022
  • “Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance”. SullyGnome, 2022, https://sullygnome.com/game/Metal_Gear_Rising_Revengeance/2022