GTA: Chinatown Wars Did Not Sell Especially Well

It's definitely a great game but the lack of VO kills me. Hopefully it's a slow burn game.

I enjoy the game, but it has been overrated by critics. I can't understand how the same people who bitched nonstop about GTA2's issues with camera, control, and other "bugs", seemed to have no issue at all with the same issues in Chinatown Wars.

there goes our GTA for the Wii

They shoulda just called it gta chinatown wars party
BOOM MILLIONS RIGHT THERE!

This is very disappointing news, especially since Chinatown Wars was a very fun game and used the touch screen quite well.

I can't believe how many people chose not to buy this because they either don't like the top down GTA games or don't like GTA games. Period.  This game is top down, it is not shit.  Believe me, I own GTA on GBA and I know that game isn't much fun, but this is a full blown GTA and it's just been packaged in a way that caters well to a portable system.  If you don't like GTA at all then maybe you should have you head examined, you don't even have to do missions to find something in these games which is better than most retail games available.  Arg.

I loved that game, so this news bums me out. A lot.

Well, I bought it. But I don't really play it all that much.

"To add that and compare, what are the best selling games on PSP? Monster Hunter, Daxter, GTA, Metal Gear, and Final Fantasy. Games that very much service the middle age man that is very into games. What are the best selling games on the DS though? Nintendogs, Mario, Pokemon, Brainage, Animal Crossing. Non-intimidating casual games that people who have not played games in a long time can play. "

Man, that's a low number, especially if you consider how many freakin' DSes there are out there. Dang. The Lost and Damned sold more than this :P

i'm going to play chinatown wars when i get a DS. so take two can expect to get at least one more sale in the near future!

We will have to wait and see April's sales. I'm sure more than a few folks held off on GTA until they had a chance to pick up the DSi.

Just not into portable gaming even if it is GTA

Not really interested, never got into the series.

Well... Wal-Mart numbers aren't included in that right? 

See, I feel like part of the problem because, despite my ownership of a DS and my enjoyment of GTA, not to mention my intention to play this, I can't bring myself to buy it.
The only rationale I can come up with is: A) I just recently was GTA'd out with Lost and Damned and/or B) I can't say I particularly want to devote so much time to a handheld game.

"I enjoy the game, but it has been overrated by critics. I can't understand how the same people who bitched nonstop about GTA2's issues with camera, control, and other "bugs", seemed to have no issue at all with the same issues in Chinatown Wars."

I have played through GTA 2 and GTA:CW.  GTA:CW is a completely different game.

 In GTA2 you had to:

•  hold down a button to MOVE
  
• there was no lock on
•  the camera didn't stay behind the car when you drove (It was fixed perspective) 
  
• You couldn't control the camera in any way
•  acquiring weapons took a long time, making the game a chore
  
•  it cost you money to save your game so if you wanted to quit and you lacked the money you lost progress
• there were a limited number of lives
• the missions were near impossible near the end and the camera wasn't on an angle so you couldn't see very well. 
  
• Oh, the steering was jacked.  I mean BROKEN. 
  
• There were whole missions where there were walkways above your dude and all you could rely on was a pink arrow to tell you where he was and it didn't have any indicator as to where the enemies were and near the end they had rocket launchers and flame throwers.  (One of the scientist missions in the second level I think)
  

It makes sense to me.  I enjoyed GTA4 more.  I basically agree with most of what Yahtzee said about GTACW...  They made a good facsimile of GTA for a DS game, but it's really only good with that qualification.  Factor in the DS userbase and it seemed like an ill fit.

I have been playing Chinatown Wars for a couple weeks now and I have to say, it is one of my favorite games at the moment.  It plays great on the DS and the story/characters are pretty good.  Huang is a cool character.
This news really bums me out, so I hope more people give this game a try in the coming months.

I can only hope - feebly - that this game has a long tail. It's a fantastic title that I'm proud to own and they should be proud of developing, and it's a damn shame to think they won't be rewarded for their hard work.

half of GTA is the cutting edge brutality!
in other words, the graphics are a big part of gta.
duh!

Fucking sad. Pony up suckers, the game is the shit.

I think the problem is, that majority of people who play M rated games that own a DS, don't play their DS a lot.  Ive got one and can go months between playing it.  When I do, I play in small chunks.  If your gamer that plays M rated games wants to play GTA, they'll stick to the console version over handheld.

This is really heart-breaking. I bought it right away, game is indeed great but it looks like it may be the last Mature title on the platform.

tis a fucking shame, and a steal at 40 dollars compared to some other current titles on console's.  Honestly a great effing game.

I own a DS but I do not own this game... It hink ever since I bought a DS in excitement, played some of the starting games for a while, at some point I just didn't have time for it. With my pc and ps3 as main game devices and me never being on the road... I just simply don't have time to play my DS. When I want to play GTA at home I'd just go sit behind my big ass screen and play GTA4, I think that is a problem a lot of people have.

Younger people who are out more, going places (maybe because they have to) have more time, at least I did in the GB, GBC and GBA times... I played a lot of games back then. Just not anymore.

Ahhh that sucks, GTA or not, whatever people think of it, it is bad when any amazing game does not sell well, but really, there are no males between 18 and 35 that have a ds?
On a non-pc note, I think the whole idea of being chinese put off a lot of people, just a thought.

This is a great game...if you have a DS and don't own this game, then there's something wrong with you.  Unless of course you're 6 or something.

I'm sure a significant amount of people are pirating this game.  It's just too damn easy to get free games on the DS.  I wonder if Nintendo has noticed this at all...hopefully they implemented some sort of anti-piracy measure within the DSi.  If not, then I'm pretty much convinced that they simply don't give a shit about people pirating their games.

Don't forget that the "mature" audience more easily downloads and plays the game illegally.

Well I hate to say I told you so...but my blog on this said it all...
I am disappointed though I hoped the game would do well.

It's definitely depressing that GTA Chinatown Wars didn't sell a lot... it definitely my top DS games of all time and the only GTA game that I really want to finish.

In my case it's that I was never really a huge fan of GTA so I just rented Chinatown, played it for a while and that's it. It's not one of the games I need to own. The thing that troubles me is that sales of this title might stop more M-rated games from appearing on the DS.

"This is a great game...if you have a DS and don't own this game, then there's something wrong with you.  Unless of course you're 6 or something.I'm sure a significant amount of people are pirating this game.  It's just too damn easy to get free games on the DS.  I wonder if Nintendo has noticed this at all...hopefully they implemented some sort of anti-piracy measure within the DSi.  If not, then I'm pretty much convinced that they simply don't give a shit about people pirating their games."

I wouldn't worry about it just yet, give it another 3 months and then panic. Given the time of year, people running out of money, students for example are awaiting there next chunks of loan, global recession blah blah blah. It's not a good sign that's for sure, but I reckon it'll pick up next month once students the world over get their loan monies.

I founded out the reason: hardcore doesn't sell on DS, or the Wii (MadWorld).

I still found the top-down control method annoying. I spent most of last weekend trying to like the game and just constantly got fed up with missing every turn or having to drive at 2 miles an hour to not hit cars and people repeatedly. I know the reviews all said the controls were great but here's a +1 for the 'not so great' list.

This just makes me hate Nintendo fans...yep...

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.

How easy was PSP piracy at the time of Liberty City Story's release, compared to the incredibly easy DS piracy?

I think that monthly sales figures are why you get stagnation in game design.  If there isn't an immediate bump the game gets dropped or treated like a failure, and this is especially true for games that need a physical product and have to have strict production schedules.  What I want to know is if monthly sales figures have a one-to-one relationship to the success of a game, or is this another in a long line of short term investor anxiety behaviors that make markets in general so volatile?

The GTA brand has a specific target, and it's usually the kind of people who go toward the biggest consoles or higher-end PCs-- the alphas of the gaming world, I guess. So if there's any lack of features or function (or in this case over-the-shoulder perspective and hard-core bowling simulation), then these people treat it as a sideshow.

If I were a DS designer I wouldn't focus on the fact that it was a "mature" game.  That's not its only feature.  It's also that Rockstar has notorious difficulty selling anything that isn't plain old GTA.

"How easy was PSP piracy at the time of Liberty City Story's release, compared to the incredibly easy DS piracy? "

It's sad that such a great game is being vastly outsold by shovelware.

Yeah not only is it the audience not really wanting it...i'll wager most fans of "GTA games" or M rated games in general don't own a DS to play it on. Or abandoned it or whatever

I love GTA but I only own a PC and I'd buy it if it came to steam but the only DS games I play are on an emulator.

I think thats really sad, but I am not sure whether it is because its a mature game on the DS-I mean, the Wii had No More Heroes and that sold fine. I think its more the fact that it is a GTA game, and everyone that likes GTA has bought a PSP if they bought a handheld console.

I think it has more to do with it being GTA on a handheld than it being a mature rated game on the DS. Most GTA players are probably skeptical of a portable GTA title, especially one on the DS. GTA fans that are used to the playstyle of GTA III - IV are most likey turned off by the top-down view of the DS title. And although I like the game and think it is a strong effort, I can't say that it is great. The controls are loose, the camera annoying, and the aiming is as bad or worse than GTA III. Overall I think it is mostly that GTA fans are being careful with their cash. Afterall, Lost and Damned came out right before Chinatown Wars. I think a lot of people might be more willing to pay $20 for more GTA IV than $35 for an unfamiliar DS title.

That's a sad state of affairs.  I bought my copy just as it came out and I'm very happy with it.  Actually I would love to dedicate more time to the game, just been too busy and my DS really only sees use when I'm traveling.  But that will be my primary DS game for a while.  For Rockstar's part I'm sure we wont see them developing for the DS again any time soon, which is a shame because I was really hoping to see more from them in the future.  =(

@sixpin:  Those are good points, I think you might be on to something there...