News
Chinatown Wars Sales Underwhelm
Take Two's Handheld Gamble Not Paying Out
by Sean
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is one of the best reviewed games of the year, if not all time. It has had one of the biggest ad pushes of any game released since last Christmas season, and has been hailed as nothing short of a milestone in gaming, tying adult themed gameplay to a handheld console. It has the pedigree of being the latest game in one of the best-selling franchises of all time. It has all the makings of a blockbuster hit game. The only thing it's lacking is sales.
According to reports released yesterday by NPD group, GTA: Chinatown Wars sold only 88,704 units in March. To say that these numbers fall short of expectations would be a gross understatment, as many analysts predicted sales could reach the 200,000 - 450,000 range. There are many theories being tossed around to explain the game's poor performance, from parents' blocking their kids' access to the game, to the game's target audience not being the DS's demographic.
No matter why people aren't buying Chinatown Wars, the fact remains that this news does not bode well for the future of mature games for the Nintendo DS. In light of these kinds of sales, and the PSP having a reputation as attracting an older gamer, I'm not sure how eager publishers will be to try to attract an audience that does not seem to be buying.
Is anyone else as surprised as I am by these figures?
[Source]
Comments
Quite frankly, I don't care all that much for sales, but I'll admit I certainly expected more. Give it another month or two; games on Nintendo consoles usually sell far longer than the initial month we're used to see.
Give it time, give it time. It will pick up big when the holidays roll around.
@Coop: Think so? Holidays are a long way off.
I'm surprised by this. I wonder if this and Madworld's sales numbers are going to influence 3rd party Wii/DS development even with the monstrous install base. Maybe the numbers are in the R4 cards.
Am I surprised by the figures? Not really... I think you have to consider the fact that it is quite possible that the installed base of DS owners has switched from "gamers" to "non-gamers", in a traditional sense. I don't think GTA was the appropriate title to put out on this system. That being said, I love the game. I'm having a load of fun with it, but it's not what the majority of DS owners are going to play. I can't imagine this conversation didn't pop up in the board room at Rockstar.
I'm not really that surprised about it. Maybe as more games like this come out sales will go up. I wasn't going to buy it because I didn't think it really looked that good. I didn't really like any of the past portable GTA games. My brother (http://gamervision.com/gamer/philip) convinced me to buy it, and I really liked it. I think that this game is not selling because people aren't expecting it to play the way it does.
Really, how many DS games sell millions over a month? Yes the DS has a ridiculously large user base but I'm of the opinion that gamers don't rush out to pick up portable games as they do regular console games. And yes even then 88k is kinda low after a month but you have to also consider that the user base of the DS varies greatly and in that mix you have the types that won't play a game like GTA:CW such as casual gamers, females (I wouldn't think GTA would appeal to the fairer sex... sure there will be some but overall, no), young children or those under 17 who can't purchase it, etc.
I still think the overall total sold will be pretty healthy after 1 year. I don't think many expected much from this title being on the DS but word of mouth and excellent critical reception will get more people to pick it up, I predict.