I've actually been wondering. How well did those Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance games sell? I assume Chinatown Wars is doing better than them, but does anyone have some numbers?
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
Game » consists of 17 releases. Released Mar 17, 2009
- Nintendo DS
- PlayStation Portable
- PlayStation Network (PSP)
- iPhone
- + 4 more
- iPod
- iPad
- Android
- PlayStation Network (Vita)
Take control of Huang Lee, the son of a Triad mob boss, in an destructive romp throughout Liberty City in his quest for revenge, money and honour in Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.
GTA: Chinatown Wars Did Not Sell Especially Well
"Well, Liberty City Stories sold 158,000 in its first month, so the DS game did better with more than half the sales in half the time, even though PSP gamers were pretty starved for quality titles at the time, whereas the DS has a steady stream of good games and, of course, an immense back catalogue to choose from. That didn't stop the PSP title from becoming a success (over a million sales after a year, and over 8 million after 2 years and a PS2 version according to Take Two) and spawning more PSP GTA titles, even though it wasn't the system seller people had expected or hoped for. So, how about we wait and see what happens with this one (even though I don't expect it to reach the PSP games sales, it also didn't have their budget)? No? Okay, I guess the DS is Nintendo's other baby, let's bash it every chance we get just like the Wii. M rated games or not, it's THE handheld to have with tons of titles that suit any taste, not just Nintendogs and Brain Age."
Debating the merit of mature games on the DS aside; it saddens me that CTW is not selling well and may set a precedent for the future, I think the game is fantastic and a nice change of pace from the usual family-friendly DS games in it's catalog.
Come on guys, buy CTW... it's really, really good.
I will get it, but im not playing my ds right now. Got far too many games to catch up on from the past few months on consoles and pc.
I think this sends a perfectly clear message that we really have know all along. Nintendo game sell on Nintendo platforms. Its ashamed since I'm one of those 89,000 and love the game but obviously I'm not in the core ds demographic. Piracy isn't a factor because WE pirate game not the millions upon millions of other ds owners.
Um, nobody denies the casual pull of Nintendo platforms, they only state the obvious, that core games also sell. Take Two have made statements that they're happy with the game sales and expect it to have long legs, but now we have analyst wannabes present doomsday for the DS, years after its release and after the support many, many different companies constantly offer, just because they think one game should sell more. The game didn't have a fraction of the cost other GTA games have, and it will yield a fraction of the profit. Win win situation, really. Of course games that sell to both casuals and hardcores will have insane sales while games targeting only hardcores will have less, once again considering they didn't have a fraction of the production cost. You're a core gamer and you have a DS, there are many others like you. If you don't buy games targeted to you, and instead pirate them, of course they won't make up for it by the audience they do not target. Duh. But anyway, just the fact you're oh so hardcore yet own a DS proves it has appeal for such gamers also. Not for M rated games that it lacks, but worthy games in general. Duh.
Don't worry, Jeff! I'll get it when I get a DSi. Probably not happening to the holidays, though. Rockstar, I won't let you down, guys!
I wasn’t planning to get GTA: CTW because, frankly, I suck at GTA.
I don’t think 2 weeks is enough to go on and I suspect the next NPD numbers will look a lot better.
However, I do want to support this game and so I’ll go pick up a copy.
I probably won’t get very far, but at least I’ll be doing my part to help keep games like this coming to the DS.
problem is that the core gamers of DS have flash cartridges and pirate games
I went to one site and counted the amounts of downloads. Which proved to be a bit of a chore since this game had around 50 different releases being seeded on that site.
If Pirate bay showed the number of downloads I would have counted on that site, I guess the numbers there would be at least double of what I got on the site I went to.
Number of downloads of Chinatown Wars on a somewhat known torrent site
214 689
One has to wonder how many 17+ year-old DS gamers pirated Chinatown Wars. MAYBE enough to double those sales totals, but that would make the game still a disappointment Isales wise, for how many DS systems have been sold.
Perhaps the top-down view did it. Aside from making aiming a little wonky (IMO) it doesn't give you the same satisfaction blasting blobs sorta resembling humans that a up close and personal view on detailed 3D models does.
Maybe I'm just grasping at straws, it probably is the DS's demographics on this one. I would like some M rated mayham on the go, but at the same time I definitely get plenty of that at home with the 360 and PS3. As long as the DS continues bringing experiences those two cannot match (three exclusive 2D Castlevanias, Elite Beat Agents Rhthym Heaven plus the Nintendo mascot titles) I guess I can live with that.
"People buy games?"Apparently not. From the sound of it everyone with a DS just pirates games.
Jools Watsham of Renegade Kid, who have also created similar adult orientated titles for the DS, speaks on this matter...
Jeff said:
And I could be wrong, but this looks like a case of the audience sending a pretty clear message about what it wants on the DS. What do you think?
Your wrong, there's no clear message here. The game was released on the net even before it was officially released, review copies were ripped and put out nearly two weeks before. Piracy played a major role in the sales numbers at the time of this story.
Jools Watsham of Renegade Kid, who have also created similar adult orientated titles for the DS, speaks on this matter... ... [more]
Isn't that true for nearly every big game (at least on the 360 and PC platforms)?
GTAIV was leaked early. That didn't stop it from breaking sales records. Hell, even San Andreas for the PS2 was leaked
Halo 3 was leaked, so was Halo 2, etc.
When a GTA titles sells less than 100,000 units on a platform as widely adopted as the DS there's obviously more going on here than piracy.
Linkyshinks said: Jools Watsham of Renegade Kid, who have also created similar adult orientated titles for the DS, speaks on ... [more]
As I say in my previous post there is no clear message here, alluding to the fact that rife piracy had a large contributing factor on early sales. The supposed hardcore gamers who own DS's (who this game appeals to primarily) will most likely also own a R4 or the likes, many of them downloaded the game within the two weeks it was out before it's release.
As Renegade Kid's developer says, those are in fact good sales. It's important to remember DS development is both cheap and less labour intensive compared to other platforms you mention. These initial numbers may seem low, but they really are not that bad at all given the platform, and a audience not use to seeing or even believing that such content exists on DS. I imagine sales numbers have picked up significantly now though, due largely to word of mouth among a wider less videogame savvy audience, who don't own back up devices.
Has DS Piracy Reached Epidemic Levels? by MB
Many gamers think that this is just a kiddie version of GTA. That probably hurt sales. It's sad, I'd like to see more games like this on DS.
Maybe on planet Mars would those numbers be considered "good sales" for an entry in the GTA franchise.
And a GTA game NOT being pirated would be news, not the other way around. As I said, GTAIV was leaked early, San Andreas was leaked early, etc.
The game sold only 74,000 copies in April, less than it sold in its disappointing debut month, causing the price for the game to be nearly halved by some major retailers like Best Buy (down to 20 bucks from 35.) Amazon slashed the price to 28 bucks.
That's not for lack of advertising/awareness either, this game was one of the few games on any platform that got such a large number of commercials.
Personally I don't care much about sales or anything, and I'm not really much of a GTA fan (I play them and dig 'em, but it's not among my favorite franchises,) but it takes some serious spin to make those seem like good numbers for the GTA franchise on a platfom that has such an insanely high number of units in circulation. That about as much of a "clear message" as you can get.
Maybe on planet Mars would those numbers be considered "good sales" for an entry in the GTA franchise. And a GTA ... [more]
I still love my DS, and it's worth owning for Nintendo-published games alone...but it is a bummer that it is the *wrong* system for games like GTA.
Fortunately, there are like 100 amazing DS games.
First of all, DUDESSSS!!! who the hell buys PSP games anymore... thats as old as going to an internet cafe because you dont have internet at home...
almost all the PSP users have their PSP modded... which means poor sales for mostly all games.... BUT sony saves the day again... coming up with their new PSP GO... or whatever... and its not hacked....... yetttttt... i bet you a bunch of console hackers are proving me wrong as im speaking right now (-:
"I know this is an old thread, but I'd like to point out that the game didn't sell especially well on the PSP either. So I think the answer to your statement at the end there is that it was less a case of appealing to the wrong audience and more a lack of marketing among other things (like GTA fans in general not wanting to play a "2D" game).The NPD Group's monthly sales figures dropped today, delivering the company's estimated game sales figures for the month of March. While there's a complete look at software and hardware sales in there, the number everyone is focusing in on right now is the one attached to Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. Though it was a mid-month release and, obviously, only had about two weeks of sales in the month, The DS-only GTA raked in sales around the 89,000 mark.I try to avoid too many stories about sales figures because I'm not an analyst, and most of you reading this site aren't, either. But when the world's largest modern video game franchise can't breakthrough and give people a good reason to get M-rated on one of the most pervasive platforms of all time--the Nintendo DS--it sends a pretty clear message across the industry. I have to imagine that any DS game publisher that didn't already know that the sales were coming in under expectations is probably looking at the spreadsheet of sales figures and planning development accordingly. In short, I wouldn't expect to see a ton of adult-targeted DS games in the future, and I wouldn't be surprised if this had a similarly chilling effect on Wii development.The truly disappointing part, of course, is that Chinatown Wars is an amazing game that makes great use of the DS while still providing a decidedly GTA-like experience. It didn't feel half-assed in any way, it came along with terrific worth of mouth, high review scores, and a pretty decent marketing push, too. But if the audience isn't interested in that style of content, no amount of marketing will convince them to buy it en masse.And I could be wrong, but this looks like a case of the audience sending a pretty clear message about what it wants on the DS. What do you think?"
" @Jeff said:I agree it's a great game, just a hard sell."I know this is an old thread, but I'd like to point out that the game didn't sell especially well on the PSP either. So I think the answer to your statement at the end there is that it was less a case of appealing to the wrong audience and more a lack of marketing among other things (like GTA fans in general not wanting to play a "2D" game). "The NPD Group's monthly sales figures dropped today, delivering the company's estimated game sales figures for the month of March. While there's a complete look at software and hardware sales in there, the number everyone is focusing in on right now is the one attached to Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. Though it was a mid-month release and, obviously, only had about two weeks of sales in the month, The DS-only GTA raked in sales around the 89,000 mark.I try to avoid too many stories about sales figures because I'm not an analyst, and most of you reading this site aren't, either. But when the world's largest modern video game franchise can't breakthrough and give people a good reason to get M-rated on one of the most pervasive platforms of all time--the Nintendo DS--it sends a pretty clear message across the industry. I have to imagine that any DS game publisher that didn't already know that the sales were coming in under expectations is probably looking at the spreadsheet of sales figures and planning development accordingly. In short, I wouldn't expect to see a ton of adult-targeted DS games in the future, and I wouldn't be surprised if this had a similarly chilling effect on Wii development.The truly disappointing part, of course, is that Chinatown Wars is an amazing game that makes great use of the DS while still providing a decidedly GTA-like experience. It didn't feel half-assed in any way, it came along with terrific worth of mouth, high review scores, and a pretty decent marketing push, too. But if the audience isn't interested in that style of content, no amount of marketing will convince them to buy it en masse.And I could be wrong, but this looks like a case of the audience sending a pretty clear message about what it wants on the DS. What do you think?"
"First of all, DUDESSSS!!! who the hell buys PSP games anymore... thats as old as going to an internet cafe because you dont have internet at home... almost all the PSP users have their PSP modded... which means poor sales for mostly all games.... BUT sony saves the day again... coming up with their new PSP GO... or whatever... and its not hacked....... yetttttt... i bet you a bunch of console hackers are proving me wrong as im speaking right now (-: "
I purchase all my PSP games. I bought Crush for the PSP back last March, best 20 dollars I spent in a while. Broad generalization that no one buys PSP games, but generally the same is said for PC. All in all, just uninformed all around.
I thought it was a good enough game to buy, but apparently not a lot of other people did. I guess that's because I was playing the GTA series back before it was in 3D, so Chinatown Wars was just another one of those games to me. The modern vision of what a GTA game is probably hurt the appeal of that old style of presentation.
Yet even as I try to justify it, it really is a mystery to me how a name like Grand Theft Auto didn't immediately sell like hotcakes on any platform, especially coming off the release of GTA IV, back when there was a whole lot of buzz still around.
" Exactly, radiOlactive. Everyone I know personally pirated it instead of buying it. "That's a damn shame. It really is.
This was an amazing effort by Rockstar Leeds, and I found it just as good (in some parts even better) than GTA IV.
I'm also sure that it put off a bunch of the younger/newer GTA players who never played the top down games.
It wasn't a piracy issue, various titles still sell good on DS and PSP, and the PSP was already hacked when the previous GTA titles released. People simply didn't want that game. I'm sure that if they made a San Andreas Stories it would sell much more, though perhaps people have had enough so it wouldn't sell quite as much as the last two Stories games. It's worth noting that the DS version has sold respectably by now. The PSP one, not so much. It likely made a good profit. As good as the game was, it couldn't have possibly cost as much as other GTA titles, neither in development nor in marketing, so I don't know why they expected the same sales. If money spent didn't matter then they would have made GTAIV on that budget ;)
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