Some people wondered how well Metal Gear Solid 4 would do in Japan after a somewhat lukewarm launch reception. Some outlets were reporting the lack of long lines at stores and the seeming malaise over midnight launches as an omen that the game might not do so well on the island nation. It turns out those fears were totally unfounded as the numbers for the first four days of MGS 4 are in, and the numbers are good.

According to sales data, the game moved 476,334 copies across all the various editions over a four-day span. In addition, the PS3 itself also saw a nice sales boost, with 77,208 consoles being snatched up over the same timeframe. This is a gigantic jump in weekly sales than what the PS3 normally sees in Japan, considering the console normally peaks around 10-12k.

While American numbers for the game haven’t been released yet, it’s safe to assume similar gargantuan numbers will follow. Looks like Sony finally managed to crank out an exclusive game that can manage to sell big and not suck at the same time, which is quite a trick for them (see Lair, Haze).