GTA on the DS Sells 89K. Mature Content for Nintendo in Jeopardy?
You can file this post under the ‘not good news‘ label for both Rockstar and Nintendo. According to the NPD, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for the DS sold only 89,000 units during the month of March. In case you couldn’t figure it out, that’s an extremely low number, considering Nintendo’s handheld has moved almost 30 million units. Mathematically, that number equals less than 1% of DS owners who actually own GTA Chinatown Wars, to be more specific it’s around 0.3%.
Even with the strong reviews and the sandbox game ended up getting some of the best scores on the unit, people failed to even take notice. Let us not forget that we’re talking about Grand Theft Auto here, which is already a household name. This is bad news all around and for various reasons. First, the chances of us seeing a ‘sequel’ to Chinatown Wars is much slimmer, than it was before. Which is a huge disappointment, because the game is truly awesome. But more importantly, the possibility of seeing more ‘Mature’ rated games on the DS is pretty much determined now. Most companies are going to look at releasing a M-title as a huge gamble, a gamble they will most likely loose.
Not only could this affect the DS, but the Wii as well. A few months back, Rockstar mentioned how strong sales for GTA on the DS, could influence their decision to come out with a Grand Theft Auto on the Wii. If you’re still hoping to see that, stop. Because if this was going to determine their conclusion — consider it not happening.
At the same time, this could force most publishers not even think about developing a Mature title on the Wii. With the sales for both House of the Dead and Madworld falling flat, why would anyone even contemplate wasting money on releasing a game for adults? Right now, if we want to see Mature rated content on the Wii or DS, we might have to see Nintendo publish one and maybe Wii owners will buy into the idea. If companies see that, they could follow suit. Honestly though, you don’t even need to wish for something like that to happen, because that’s not gonna go down anytime soon, if ever.
April 17th, 2009 at 7:21 am
Where was the advertising on this? I watch a LOT of TV and last night was the first time I saw a commercial for the game. A mature gamer isn’t necessarily a hardcore one, so you can’t assume they’ll check gaming sites or read gaming magazines. The DS is a very casual system, and if there had been heavier advertising to the mature-yet-not-hardcore audience I think sales would have been much better.
April 17th, 2009 at 8:19 am
I can’t really agree with the comment above. I’ve seen lots of adverts for Chinatown Wars here in UK. Often i would see one 2-3 times a day.
I just think owners of Wii and DS generally harbour the traditional viewpoint of video games – they arent real in depth thrillers or horrors, but something you play to “have fun” like mario.
April 17th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
@Dan
China town wars is actually selling well in the UK. What this article doesnt tell you is that this is just American sales. This game actually sold cloase to 300k world wide. I hate it when the media doesnt give alll the facts. When looking at Hardware and software sales I dont want to no just how one region is doing I want to know how well the product is selling all together
April 17th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Eric,
The 300,000 number as of now is a rumor, from what I understand. Either way, if that is the case — it’s still a failure in many eyes. To put it in perspective, there are over 100 million DSs sold worldwide. If the 300K number is correct, than that would still only equal to about 0.03%. That’s even with the incredible reviews.
On a side note, the New Super Mario Bros. game sold almost 18 million copies!
May 11th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
I think one of the reasons it hasn’t sold well is that you can download this game for free on any number of DS-ROM sites and put them on a Flash Cart that uses an SD card.
I am surprised that it hasn’t sold better even with people downloading the game, I personally love the game and its VERY addictive! I think the main thing that has put people off is that the Nintendo DS is still considered by many to be a children’s or woman’s console (which simply isn’t true, despite the TV adverts), simply due to the HUGE amount of “cute” child-like games available on the console.
Pokémon, Mario and any number of ‘Pet’ games are a case in point. There are ‘adult’ games on the platform, like ‘Dementium: The Ward’ and even Resident Evil, but I’m not sure if they have sold that well generally.