Grand Theft Auto DS Misses Sales Expectations

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While analysts had predicted that Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars would see first month sales of anywhere from 200K to 450K units, sales-tracking group NPD has revealed that Rockstar's Nintendo DS exclusive sold far under those expectations.

From its release on March 17 to the end of NPD's tracking period on April 4, the mature-rated title sold a mere 89,000 units in the US, the firm confirmed with Joystiq. Publisher Take-Two's internal sales expectations for the game are unknown.

"The disappointing first month sales reinforce our view that achieving meaningful success on Nintendo platforms remains a very difficult proposition for third party publishers," Cowen Group analyst Doug Creutz told Gamasutra, noting his belief that the lower-than-expected sales were "not due to any misexecution on Take-Two's part."

Chris Faylor was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
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    April 17, 2009 8:29 AM

    Should I pick this up tomorrow? I loved all of the other GTA's. Does it have the same violent feel or is it kinda kid friendly?

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      April 17, 2009 8:34 AM

      Not kid friendly at all. I would closely compare it to the first 2 games (but better). Many of the missions early on include murder and drug dealing.

      I had all but shelved my DS since I rarely play on the go anymore and I picked this up the first week it was released and have put a lot of hours into it already just sitting in the recliner at home.

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      April 17, 2009 8:43 AM

      i think this is why it didn't perform... some ppl think it might be a watered down GTA, others might think its hampered by the hardware..

      the answer to your question is, its awesome.

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        April 17, 2009 10:22 AM

        Yea. I think some people fear:
        1) that it might be watered down like you said. And it's not at all.
        2) that top down will suck. These people might not have ever played Gta 1 and 2. They really should give it a shot.

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          April 17, 2009 10:27 AM

          3) the mini games. I was a little skeptical about these when I read about them, but they are very tight. They aren't over used and they fit into the gameplay very well.

          Also, this game has the best grenade/molotov throwing control EVER made in any game.

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      April 17, 2009 8:47 AM

      It is awesome.

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      April 17, 2009 9:01 AM

      It's GTA 4 minus 1 part of the city, with a crappier story, better mission design and drug trading.

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        April 17, 2009 10:23 AM

        Crappier story? I don't see that. Good writing anyhow. I agree on mission design. They are fun missions. None of them too hard so far.

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      April 17, 2009 9:02 AM

      it totally lives up to and in many ways surpasses previous GTAs

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        April 17, 2009 9:19 AM

        i'd say i have more fun racing around in the city and fucking up cops than in gta4.

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        April 17, 2009 10:23 AM

        agree

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      April 17, 2009 10:13 AM

      The core gameplay and minigames are awesome. The writing is atrociously bad (which surprised me since GTA is usually pretty solid there). Very violent, but the people you're killing look like ants. Not kid friendly at all imo.

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        April 17, 2009 10:25 AM

        The writing is good I think. What don't you like about it?

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      April 17, 2009 10:19 AM

      NOT AT ALL KID FRIENDLY. There is cussing, violence, drug dealing, and provocative. They say and do things on this one that the big 3d ones have been scared to do. And it's comedic. And the writing is fantastic. Your character has a great sarcastic nature to him.

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      April 17, 2009 11:26 AM

      Ok, I just purchased. Time to see if the Shack is right on this one.

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      April 17, 2009 12:40 PM

      I love GTA games but I am not to keen on this one. Maybe I was expecting too much from my DS.
      Hopefully it has paved the way for more mature games to appear on this format.
      I know it goes without saying but the PSP GTA's are much better

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