Reports emerging over the last 24-hours reveal that 4 may need to sell one-million copies on day one if the game is to turn a profit for publisher Konami.

According to Reuters, producer Ryan Payton revealed this week that "the new 'Metal Gear Solid' needs to sell over a million copies on the first day it goes on sale due to its costly production."

Despite this pressure, however, Payton and are not tempted to release the game on multiple formats. "The PlayStation brand has always been good to us, and we're pretty bullish on the PS3," the producer stated. "We're telling our fans that if you want to play Metal Gear Solid 4, you have to buy a PS3."

Games like MGS4 could cost over 50 million USD to develop, and the in particular has become famous for high costs. This makes big sales crucial.

"You might be able to weather one title coming in at 500,000 in sales," analyst Billy Pidgeon, told GamesIndustry.biz. "But two or three failures like that and even big publishers are going to be hurting."

Metal Gear Solid 4 is due out in 2008.

By Luke Guttridge