Dismal numbers have indicated that GTA Chinatown Wars may have failed... thus dealing the death knell for quality adult content on Nintendo consoles in the foreseeable future. The game, which is the highest rated on the DS, with a whopping 94 Metacritic points (to put it into perspective, that's like a movie winning eight or nine Oscars... at least), was hailed by many to be the greatest and most fun GTA title ever... better than the PSP GTA games, which evoke mixed responses, and, in some ways, better even than last year's blockbuster GTA IV. Then what went wrong?
There are three posible explanations. The first, and the one which DS haters and PSP fanboys would pounce upon as the likeliest, is that there isn't an audience for mature games like GTA on the DS. While many would not like to belive that, it is a fact, clear as crystal thatmature games have never sold well on the DS. And while many expected CHinatown Wrs to maybe buck that trend, it hasn't happened so far.
The second explanation is that games did not sell well in March at all, except for Resident Evil 5 (whose success is unwarranted and undeserved in my opinion), and Pokemon Platinum. Look at MadWorld, which, according to IGN, sold about 205,000 copies. Or Resistance Retribution. I haven't found sales figures for that game anywhere, but there are many unverifiable sources pegging the game to have sold less than 55,000.
The final reason is releated to the second one. Which is, cosidering so many AAA releases in MArch, many might have opted for RE5 or Pokemon over GTA, holding out to buy Chinatown Wars in April or May. Or maybe they were waiting for the DSi to launch, and get Chinatown Wars with it (in the glaring absence of any proper and viable DSi launch titles, Chinatown Wars can very well fill into that fold).
Whatever the reason may be, there are a few points that need to be considered:
- Games on Nintendo consoles typically start off slow. Look at Mario Kart DS. Released in 2005, hailed as the best game on the DS, and not even cracking the Top 10 in its first month. Today, the game has sold over 10 million, and still features regularly in the monthly NPD numbers. Another example is Wii Music. It sold less than 80,000 units in its first month and was denounced as a flop by everyone everywhere. Until the numbers for the next month came in when it was revealed that the game had in fact, sold over 2.6 million units already.
- Look at Resistance Retribution's sales. While Sony and PSP fanboys may pounce upon the chance to cite this as definitive proof that mature games on the DS can never sell well, what would they say about RR's figures? What does that mean? That even a quality game such as RR, hyped as the PSP's saviour, can't sell? What does that mean? That PSP gamers are uninterested? The answer is no, of course not. It just means that March was a slow month. Mark my words, when the April numbers are in, both, Resistance Retribuiton and GTA Chinatown Wars will have a healthy spot.
- Like I have already stated, a game on a Nintendo platform is in for a long run. Trust me, a year from now, Chinatown Wars will be sitting on a solid 2.3- 3 million copies sold, solid numbers by any standard, and better than the PSP games' overall sales. Oh, and one should remember that Vice City Stories' initial showing on the PSP was also very weak. But it ended up being the highest seller on the PSP. Just give Chinatown Wars some time.
I know a lot of what I've written sounds like optimistic hope, and that's because it is. I really hope that Chinatown Wars sells. I really hope it doesn't fade out of memory like The World Ends With You or No More Heroes (both excellent titles that haven't even cracked the million mark yet). To anybody who's reading this, and likes great games, and hasn't got Chinatown Wars, or Resistance Retribution, or MadWorld already, please get out and get those games now. Support good games please.
What do you think? Will Chinatown Wars recover from this initial setback? Sound off!