Analysts Differ on GTA: Chinatown Wars Sales

Two industry analysts have filed vastly different predictions for the US sales of Rockstar's highly-rated Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, a game seen as an important indicator of whether Mature-rated titles can sell well on the Nintendo DS.

EEDAR analyst Jesse Divinich today pegged March sales of the game at only 200,000 units, saying that while it will be a profitable title for Rockstar, other publishers will not see the performance as encouraging.

"With the majority of publishers currently taking a risk-adverse stance, we expect this to slow the growth rate of future mature rated titles on the DS," said Divinich.

Meanwhile, analyst arch-nemesis Michael Pachter estimated that Chinatown Wars moved a far more healthy 450,000 units, over double that of Divinich's figure.

Official NPD sales numbers are expected to be released this Thursday.