GTA: Chinatown Wars' DS Disappointment
Casts further doubt on DS as mature platform
It looks like Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is proving that 18-rated games are a non-starter on the DS. Despite analyst predictions of sales upwards of 250,000 in its first month in the US, NPD has said that the game only sold 89,000 copies in March.
NPD confirmed the figure to Joystiq, which notes that the figure shows only 0.3% of the 29.3 million DS owners in North America bought the game.
US analyst Cowan and Company, which initially predicted 450,000 sales of the game upon launch, then dropped its estimate to 250,000, says this brings the viability of mature titles on the DS into question.
“Take 2 exported their most valuable IP onto the most widely distributed gaming platform, and created the most highly-rated title in the history of that platform”, Cowman and Company’s Doug Creutz said.
“However, either the demographics are more challenging than we thought, or core gamers did not view the title as an essential purchase due to the nature of the platform.
“We believe the experiment was a worthwhile one for Take 2, and still expect the title to be profitable (though likely marginally so). However, the disappointing first month sales reinforce our view that achieving meaningful success on Nintendo platforms remains a very difficult proposition for third party publishers.”
Here in the UK, Chinatown Wars has failed to make a sizeable impact on the All Formats Chart. It debuted at Number 6, dropping through Number 8, then Number 10 to sit at Number 19 this week.
On the US front, it's worth noting that the game didn't launch until March 17th, meaning it didn't get a full month of sales. Still, GTA IV racked up 2.85 million sales across the Xbox 360 and PS3 in its launch month in the US, despite not being released until April 29th.
This is all in spite of massive critical claim. See SPOnG's review of GTA: Chinatown Wars here.
Sources:
Joystiq
MCV
NPD confirmed the figure to Joystiq, which notes that the figure shows only 0.3% of the 29.3 million DS owners in North America bought the game.
US analyst Cowan and Company, which initially predicted 450,000 sales of the game upon launch, then dropped its estimate to 250,000, says this brings the viability of mature titles on the DS into question.
“Take 2 exported their most valuable IP onto the most widely distributed gaming platform, and created the most highly-rated title in the history of that platform”, Cowman and Company’s Doug Creutz said.
“However, either the demographics are more challenging than we thought, or core gamers did not view the title as an essential purchase due to the nature of the platform.
“We believe the experiment was a worthwhile one for Take 2, and still expect the title to be profitable (though likely marginally so). However, the disappointing first month sales reinforce our view that achieving meaningful success on Nintendo platforms remains a very difficult proposition for third party publishers.”
Here in the UK, Chinatown Wars has failed to make a sizeable impact on the All Formats Chart. It debuted at Number 6, dropping through Number 8, then Number 10 to sit at Number 19 this week.
On the US front, it's worth noting that the game didn't launch until March 17th, meaning it didn't get a full month of sales. Still, GTA IV racked up 2.85 million sales across the Xbox 360 and PS3 in its launch month in the US, despite not being released until April 29th.
This is all in spite of massive critical claim. See SPOnG's review of GTA: Chinatown Wars here.
Sources:
Joystiq
MCV
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Comments
E-Henry 17 Apr 2009 11:50
1/5
Tragic really, it's a brilliant game. I bought it on release but some people I knew saw it as a simplified version with weaker graphics. Anyway, I enjoyed it at least as much as GTA4 and I'd recommend it to anyone. Except people who frown at heroin dealing on a console, possibly.
Joji 17 Apr 2009 12:33
2/5
True. All my podcast listening sing its praises, a shame many will pass it by. DS also suffers from the Wii stigma, where plenty of casual stuff floods it. Maybe more advertising in the right places would help.
I guess Take 2 should consider pushing a PSP version, using the previous GTA PSP engine. I'd check that out.
I guess Take 2 should consider pushing a PSP version, using the previous GTA PSP engine. I'd check that out.
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RJ 17 Apr 2009 14:23
3/5
I'm loving it, the new (and some old GTA 1 & 2) features are a welcome return such as the killing spree's. It's a shame people seemed to be turned off by the graphics as the game play is sublime as is the use of the touch screen (95% of the time)
Plus the whole city is open from the start (which is a bonus), I spend most of my time chasing trucks and doing deals more than I do the missions.
Plus the whole city is open from the start (which is a bonus), I spend most of my time chasing trucks and doing deals more than I do the missions.
OptimusP 17 Apr 2009 17:22
4/5
Ah man, how many games will it take before everyone gets the clue. Games on the Wii and DS DO NOT sell in the same way as on the traditional consoles. They keep selling in a more constant manner over longer periods of time instead of selling 80% in the first month or two.
It's like that Carnival Games game on the Wii, it almost never appeared in the top-10 and suddenly it was the thenth best sold game in the UK for 2008. Or Mario Galaxy selling sub-par in its first month which Joji over here called a flop, now it has allready sold 8.5 million copies.
It takes time before the game goes trough all the market layers Nintendo has been atracting with the DS and Wii instead of the shrinking traditional market that practically relies on early adaptors.
It's like that Carnival Games game on the Wii, it almost never appeared in the top-10 and suddenly it was the thenth best sold game in the UK for 2008. Or Mario Galaxy selling sub-par in its first month which Joji over here called a flop, now it has allready sold 8.5 million copies.
It takes time before the game goes trough all the market layers Nintendo has been atracting with the DS and Wii instead of the shrinking traditional market that practically relies on early adaptors.
KRis 27 Apr 2009 11:45
5/5
An amazing game, reccomended to anybody, but i can see why the sales aren't that great considering 80% of DS owners are aged between 8 and 16. This is a shame because the DS is great and the touch screen is genius, it's definately the best hand held console. The only troube is there aren't enough DS games aimed at an older audience and it flopping during the first week of sales could mean that developers might think twice about creating games on the DS that target this demographic :o(
Good Game though
Good Game though