Chinatown Wars sells under 90,000 units in March

By Tor Thorsen, GameSpotPosted Apr 16, 2009 7:12 pm PT

Raw sales numbers shows startlingly small DS debut for Grand Theft Auto series, but Take-Two and analysts confident of game's long-term success.

Earlier this week, Electronic Entertainment Design and Research director of analyst services Jesse Divnich made headlines for predicting a lackluster US debut for Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars. Whereas other analysts such as Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter were predicting that the game would sell around 450,000 units, Divnich shocked many by saying that the game--one of the highest-rated ever released for the Nintendo DS--would sell only "in the 200,000 unit range."

Though widely dismissed as overly pessimistic, Divnich's prediction appeared to be validated when the NPD Group released its March US Sales numbers today. They revealed that Chinatown Wars hadn't even cracked the software top 10, where the lowest-performing game, MLB Baseball 2K9, sold just 205,000 units. Given the hype behind Chinatown Wars, it was widely assumed to have finished just below that figure, despite the industry's overall 17 percent slump during the month.

Unfortunately, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars wasn't lagging just behind MLB Baseball 2K9--it was lagging far behind. According to raw NPD numbers provided to GameSpot by a source who wished to remain anonymous, the Rockstar Leeds game sold just less than 90,000 units in the US during the March reporting period, generating slightly more than $3 million in revenue. By contrast, the month's other high-profile DS debut, Pokemon Platinum, sold a whopping 805,000 units.

Speaking to GameSpot, a rep for Rockstar Games parent Take-Two Interactive expressed confidence that the game would gradually pick up steam. "We're confident in Chinatown Wars' long-term success, and believe it will continue to sell well," said the rep.

Take-Two's sentiments were echoed by Divnich himself, who underlined the fact that DS sales don't necessarily match up with the usual launch-week spike followed by a rapid decline. "It could very well bump up next month with sales of the DSi, and we are very likely going to see steady sales going out from there," the analyst told GameSpot. "It's going to sell the same month after month until the end of the game's life cycle. This is not a short-term in-and-out situation for Take-Two, it's going to generate income for them long haul."

As an example how a high-rated DS game could generate huge revenue after a slow start, Divnich held up Mario Kart DS. When it debuted in November 2005, the game sold only 222,000 units in the US, generating only about $7.3 million. More than three years on, the game is still popular, ranking eighth place on the February 2009 NPD best-seller list with 145,000 units sold that month.

329 Comments

  • dbj-uk

    Posted Apr 26, 2009 8:48 am PT

    gta on psp was just so and so but on a ds?what could you expect? im not a hardcore loving gta fan but i do like playing it when i heard of Chinatown wars, as an asian myself would like to buy it, but knowing it is on ds and with screenshots of gameplay i knew it wouldn't be my game. ds isn't a bad console but its not meant for these kind of games it should stick to mario cart or games that are just casual which is their selling point/audience. my nephew loves his ds but i prefer my psp.

  • xXZak-ataKXx

    Posted Apr 24, 2009 1:46 pm PT

    Not surprised really,GTA isnt ment for the handhelds,even the ones on the psp were not as good as the console versions.

  • beny_pimpster

    Posted Apr 23, 2009 11:54 pm PT

    i just dont like GTA games .. no thrill ,your a mob or something steal cars kill some bozo no decent stroy enough said. plus expensive 34.99 if they put it at 19.99 its gonna sell like pancake little profit but continous sales

  • I_Am_Sin_Seared

    Posted Apr 23, 2009 10:15 pm PT

    Lol owned...idiots.

  • Sk8rlink

    Posted Apr 23, 2009 5:54 pm PT

    sorry I meant couldn't buy legit, XD

  • Sk8rlink

    Posted Apr 23, 2009 5:53 pm PT

    Just goes to show, more than 65% of DS owners are little kids who could buy GTA legit, but it's nice that there actually good games coming onto the DS I sold mine cause I preferred a book over it, but also sad that a "new" Pokemon beat this game.

  • d3emondav3

    Posted Apr 23, 2009 5:03 pm PT

    How old do you guys think someone should be to play this? I've seen 8 year olds playing this, and that is waaay too young. But a 14-15 year old could play it for sure. Do you guys agree?

  • Futil1ty

    Posted Apr 23, 2009 3:30 pm PT

    This was the first time I've watched that review. I didn't know much about the game, and I don't own a DS...

    But the review made it look like THE BEST GTA EVER. I want,

  • cashkilla_basic

    Posted Apr 23, 2009 2:32 pm PT

    Hopefully game sales pick up. This is exactly the type of game we need more of on the DS. I think we're all getting tired of endless Cooking Mama and WarioWare styled minigame-games.

  • Chin3se_Pride

    Posted Apr 23, 2009 12:55 pm PT

    Trust me there's over 800000 people playing that game. The reason its only less than 90000 is because these are the only people that bought the game legit. Considering its rated M, and kids will want to play it, so they found otherway to get it, if you know what i a mean.

  • nappan

    Posted Apr 23, 2009 9:47 am PT

    @Old Captaini: Fair enough, I can appreciate gameplay improvements that are outside of the engine. Despite being a little dissapointed that GTAIV had more of a "Liberty City" than a "San Andreas" style, I was amazed by how alive the city seemed. The amount of voice acting alone was stunning. Frankly, GTA:CW is just a slightly glossier rehash of GTA 1 & 2. Granted, those were good games, but they played themselves out, and evolved. I understand that my view is skewed by my deep dislike of handheld gaming, and I realize that a lot of what I'm talking about reflects my taste more than anything else. If I came off as having been upset, I apologize.

  • Old_Captaini

    Posted Apr 23, 2009 8:31 am PT

    Didn't intend to strike any nerves with that comment.......Certainly GTA IV is superior in most ways to GTACW.... just by nature of sheer horsepower of the engine able to be deployed on the consoles. I was just pointing out Rockstar did a great job of optimizing the capabilities of the DS and making GTA CW as an immersive experience as GTA IV though certainly in a different way. The place where I think they moved the franchise forward was with the minigame tasks required for many of the actions in the game such as stealing a car, making molotovs, hijacking trucks, etc.. Being able to do so much with the PDA was handy too, such as order weapons, check e-mail, get directions. Just a lot of nice touches and attention to detail you don't normally see in a DS title.

  • nappan

    Posted Apr 22, 2009 9:19 pm PT

    :
    Old Captaini posted: "...and truly rivals and in some ways exceeds the game play in GTA IV!"


    In what way does CW exceed the gameplay experience of a living city from GTAIV?

  • Old_Captaini

    Posted Apr 22, 2009 6:47 pm PT

    Very surprising...........Chinatown wars is an excellent game. A full blown Liberty City experience in the palm of your hand. It doesn't feel watered down at all and has some really neat unique game play elements of its own. It is superior in terms of gameplay to the PSP GTA outings, and truly rivals and in some ways exceeds the game play in GTA IV! Perhaps the overall DS gamer population (except for me) is much younger than on other consoles, so perhaps there won't be as many takers right off as on the console versions. Even though it is a masterpiece....it is NOT a game for the kiddies......they need to stick to Zelda and Super Mario. Maybe with the roll out of the DSi and GTACW mature gamers may start to take notice.

  • xunhallowed

    Posted Apr 22, 2009 5:08 pm PT

    Well, this happens to be one of the most pirated DS games, mainly because of the pathetic security features in it that were hacked before the game was even officially released, but hey, these are the risks you take with portable games.

  • JimBurber

    Posted Apr 22, 2009 12:47 pm PT

    I own it, I like it. It's fun to play to kill the time. The cops are way more fun to antagonize than that of GTA IV which I found to be a very dissapointing game in most categories.

    Personally I love the overhead racers/drivers, I always have since the days I used to sit and play Offroad or Super Sprint, or even Auto Racing for the intellivision and enjoy when a new one comes out that I can play around with for a while.

  • Malco_Vincenzo

    Posted Apr 22, 2009 12:09 pm PT

    @ people saying that this game is AWSOME
    give it about another month the novelty of having a GTA game on the DS will wear off. I just found a copy of both GTA 1 and 2, it's the same gameplay minus the stylus controls.

  • fabz_95

    Posted Apr 22, 2009 9:56 am PT

    That's pretty dissapointing for Rockstar but it really is an amazing game and I advise all ds owners to buy it ( as long as you're old enough )

  • xbox4life76

    Posted Apr 22, 2009 8:11 am PT

    There is only soo much money we can fork over for new titles...there is no way everytime there is a new release, people are always going to go out and buy...

  • KAISERKONG

    Posted Apr 21, 2009 10:30 pm PT

    I guess there are just too many systems in the hands of younger gamers to think GTA would sell more than it did, but it's sure to be a good seller over the life of the system.

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