GTA: Chinatown Wars Did Not Sell Especially Well

I am just tired of GTA. That's why I'm not interested.

This makes me worry if a GTA will ever come to the Wii.

Well, thats not good. Hopefully it doesnt stop developers from making mature games on the platform... I'm sure it will though. :( 

Well, I bought it to play on my new DSI, but the control kinda sucks. Hard. Camera is WAY too zoomed in for the speed you need to travel.

Wow, I was expecting around 100,000 when I read your title, and even then I would be a shocked.  This is really surprising.

Really too bad.  Great gameplay, meaningful online content.

Buy this damn game you stupid DS owners. It's amazing.

Kids on the streets who own a Nintendo DS are selling crack for reals yo, they don't need to play it in a game.

I, like arkthemaniac, am burned out on GTA style games. I think this one was just too soon for most people with so many open world driving games coming out recently. Not to mention, they targetted the audience most likely to have an R4 or similar device.

I didn't even know the game was out until I read this article!

I own a DS and I loved GTAIV.  But I didn't  buy this.  I can't take too much GTA.  I skipped San Andreas last gen because I had enough.

This is a bummer.  GTA is a pretty great DS game.

I want to think this is because of the state of the economy and other reasons...but it probably isn't.

:(

That's actually pretty surprising considering all the praise it's getting and the fact that it's GTA.

That's just sad.  As DS systems that are out there, and this game doesn't sale?  If I had one, I would've bought this game, day one.  I don't know if this is due to the economy or if there is just something wrong with DS owners...

I never really liked the GTA series. I played half of Vice City and stopped and barely started IV. It's just not my top of game. Although, I never played the original top-down ones, so maybe I'll enjoy Chinatown Wars more.  

I'm not surprised. It's a very DS-oriented game, one that and bears no immediately recognizable resemblance to the "household" Grand Theft Auto (GTA III-IV) series that has become so successful in recent years.

I only know two persons that own that game, both of them pirated it

This makes me so sad.

Exactly, radiOlactive. Everyone I know personally pirated it instead of buying it.

That's a real shame, I need good games for my DSi, I don't just want a ton of kids games. 

It's sad but true that the majority of DS owners want Brain Age so if that's what's pushing the most sales then publishers will want more games that sell to that majority instead of awesome games that sell to the hardcore minority which is true for both the DS and Wii.

If the game doesn't do well on the DS, Rockstar can still do a downloadable version of it for the PS3 and 360.

Very disappointing. I hope this doesn't prevent more mature games from appearing on the DS; but why bother if it's not going to sell?

From my understanding, some DS games sell more over a long term, rather than what they would initially. I'm not sure if that's what will happen with GTA: CW

I think it should be taken as a wake-up call, GTA is not a sure-seller, just like any other game franchise, especially in these hard times. I personally don't own a DS as mine got robbed several years back, but I dont think its really about the content or quality of the game so much as the timing. I, for one, do not need the bombardment of GTA we've had since San Andreas came out i.e. all the compilations, side stories, and portable games.

89,000 isn't bad, either. It just isn't what you'd expect a top tiered franchise game to sell. I think Chinatown wars is simply an oddity; being an M rated game on a "family friendly" console, while also having a cartoony art style that may turn off the "mature" audience a bit. Besides that, it seems a lot of people have moved on from the 2d, top-down view GTA games.

This sucks because that was one of the best games the DS has seen.

i personally thought that if rockstar made a GTA  on the PSP they would have had better sales.
no matter how cool the DS is to make a GTA on, most of the people that own a DS are kids.
this was a pretty dumb risk to take.

I didn't like the GTA series all that much.  It just comes down to personal choice.

Am I the only University student who owns and plays his DS still?  I haven't been able to afford new games often but I threw caution to the wind and bought this almost as soon as it came out.  How could you ignore the reviews for this game.  The drug dealing aspect is worth it alone!  What's the matter with you people, are you all waiting for Carnival Games DS?

Kind of sad, I love the GTA franchise and I was planning on getting a DS just for this game, hopefully it can get it's sales up a little some way.

Yikes.

I think part of the issue might be that they were selling The Lost and the Damned and Chinatown Wars on different platforms, but to the same audience in roughly the same time frame.

I did pick up Chinatown Wars, but I hesitated because I'd just finished GTA IV and was a little burnt out on GTA.  I'm glad I picked it up, since the game is both a great game in its own right and an excellent design for a portable game catered to quick sessions.

It's too bad that this might mean we won't get more games designed for adults on the DS.  Chinatown Wars has me playing my DS in longer sessions than I played Ninja Gaiden DS (also a great game that apparently didn't sell).

This is a non-story.

Well, I am an analyst for a living, and I'll go ahead and say that the numbers aren't good, being a mid-month release or not. That said, I don't have a database to access to drill down and try to find out why the numbers aren't great, and don't plan on paying thousands of dollars to access NPD's data. It's easy to blame industry slow-down, but this is a resilient franchise, so my gut would go with blaming the platform. Even so, I can't substantiate that claim in the least, though I have a feeling I'm not far from the truth. Nintendo has rebranded themself with the wii and DS as being pick up and play platforms, so an underwhelming performance from a full-featured game offering aligns pretty well with that brand image, as it no longer suits the Nintendo platform. If anyone has an NPD data cube from this past month (and historicals for the past couple years), I could give you a better answer, but I don't see that happening any time soon. Besides, gamers that read these sites prefer to speculate themselves.

Why is everyone forgetting how EASY it is to pirate DS games?

well GTA4 got great reviews and sold well but that game wasn't  worth the money so people proly figure a DS GTA will be even worse

Considering DS flash carts are under $10 nowdays this doesn't really surprise me. :(

I feel like I need to go get this game. 

I really would not read too much into these figures at all, the game will sell ample over it's life, people just need to be made aware that such content both exists and is awesome. Once they are made aware, watch sales pick up significantly.

The notion that content of it's type simply does not sell, simply does not wash with me.

Yeah I think that most people that would be interested in playing an M rated game on a DS will have a fash card... I can't tell you how many I see on the subway with a fashcard in their DS. Only system that has worse piracy is the PSP.

I absoltely LOVE Chinatown Wars, and have seen ads about it around the internet... I can't believe it didn't sell better. Isn't it the highest rated game on the DS now? A well-deserved honor if you ask me.

Never much cared for the 2d top down GTA games.

Didn't buy it, but I don't like Grand Theft Auto in general so I'm not part of the target audience anyway.

There was a rumor out there about a GTA iPhone game, possibly even based on the DS's game's engine. Since the sales aren't great, and Payback doing so good on the iPhone, I could see it happening.

I'm surprised that people are surprised. The main demographic for DS holders are family people ages 6-12 and 25 and over, if not they are people between 12-25 that don't play games very often. Are there some hardcore DS players? Of course there are, but when you center it down to people who enjoy violent madness, durgs, and crime your speaking to a very niche audience. There is a reason why the top selling games feature Mario or something relatable like Dogs, because they are non-intimidating games that service customers who don't play games very often. It's simple sales math.

Too bad.  Especially since it's (In my opinion) 10 times more fun than GTA4.  Figuring out how much money you will make selling cocaine really helps with your math skills.

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.