GTA: Chinatown Wars sales a 'disappointment'

Rockstar and Take-Two's Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars sold under 89,000 units during March in the US, according to the latest investor note from Cowan and Company.

The firm had originally suggested the game could sell as many as 2 million units in if first year of sale in the US, but has now slashed forecasts to just 500,000 units.

"Despite a strong critical reception, Take-Two's GTA: Chinatown Wars sold a very disappointing 89,000 units in March, well below our more recent 200-250,000 estimate and far below the 400-450,000 we thought the title might sell upon its release," wrote Doug Creutz.

Although sales did not meet expectations, Cowan suggested it was an indication of the difficulties third-party publishers face in the Nintendo market, and not due to the quality of the title.

"Take-Two 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," detailed Creutz. "We knew there were some uphill challenges due to the demographics of the platform, but believed there were enough core gamers/adults owning a DS that the title could still perform very well.

"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-Two, 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," he added.

US sales results from The NPD Group last night revealed that March software sales for the US were down 17 per cent to USD 792.83 million, comared to USD 952.14 million for the same period in 2008.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...disappointment

One of those things I'd buy if I had money to spare right now. A case of Good game, Bad Timing unfortunately.

I'm gonna stick my neck out here and say it's probably been hit hard by piracy.
I rushed out to buy it on day 1 of release expecting to queue but it looked like very few had sold. Anyone who is of the right age who likes GTA games should go buy it IMHO.

I don't buy the piracy thing. Sure there are quite a number whom probably pirated it, but I bet those same ones are most likely peeps whom never buy any titles anyway.

I myself, due to the current money situation, had to wait before I bought my copy. Sadly it's nowhere near as fun as the reviews and videos made it out to be. I really was hoping to find that same feel that GTA1 and GTA3 gave me, but alas it's not meant to be.

Hmmm, Maybe the massive layoffs have something to do with it.

Food.... or GTA. :rolleyes:

most ds owners are either 6 or 60. not much between - i'm just one of 2 people i've seen at uni with a ds. only one with a dsi now. and the market only wants to buy games with "brain" or anything with the letter "z" stuck on the end.

It may have had strong CRITICAL success, but I haven't heard as much good buzz from people on the street. I think a lot of people, myself included, are just too skeptical about returning to the bad old days of top-down GTA games. Yes, I have played it, and frankly, I don't WANT to buy it. If I wanted a top-down pseudo 3D GTA, I'd go download GTA2 for free. Yahtzee of Zero Punctuation also didn't care for it, and a lot of geeks pay attention to what he has to say.

Piracy aside, I honestly believe that Rockstar just didn't put out a game that too many people want. They should have found a way to make it work from an over-the-shoulder perspective. It may also be a sign of sequel decay, and that people are just getting enough of GTA. After reading the reviews of it - the REAL reviews, not IGN's bullshit - I had very little interest in playing GTA IV, and this didn't even have IV's hype surrounding it.