GTA: Chinatown Wars Sales Tank Badly

[TsunamiWombat]

Completely off topic, but would saying it "tanks badly" mean that it fails to draw aggro or that it draws aggro and dies?

I laughed. That makes me very pathetic.

I reckon it's because of the DS's insistance on BS peripheral use.

 

[WolfLordAndy]

The thing is, the Nintendo core fanbase doesn't play GTA, they play Mario and Zelda.

This. The majority of DS owners are under 18. Hell, half the ones i know are under 12.

Amusingly, the majority of people I know that own a DS are 40+. I don't actually own one, but I borrow my dad's (He likes suduku) to play the occational GBA game.

The DS has been marketed to little kids, (under 12) teens (13-15) and adults (30+) but the "core" gamer ages of 16-25 (ish) has no other games so yes, they didnt check there market audience enough with this one.

 

[johnman]

At least they cant complain about piracy.

I wonder if yahtzee had given it a better reveiw then sales would of gone up?
I'm not being a fanboy, valve actaully called yahztee and told him that sales of painkiller tripled after his reveiw of it.

 

[Simalacrum]

i would buy it, but i don't have a DS. no intention of getting one, either.

 

[Branovices]

I'm 22 and I love my DS, i've just had a falling out with the GTA series after it started taking itself way too seriously so i'm not going to buy any more. I also thought GTA 4 was a grossly overrated, clunky game and I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as reviews led me to believe I should... so I mostly thought the reviews for this game were bullshit, too.

I consider myself a hardcore gamer... I own a DSi, PSP, PS3, 360, Wii and an awesome gaming PC and I like FPS, Strategy games, RPGs and old school 2d fighting games (and Soul Calibur.)

 

[144_v1legacy]

The thing is, the Nintendo core fanbase doesn't play GTA, they play Mario and Zelda.

Exactly. I bet the fan boys see this game a living form of heracy.

I believe (apparently along with plenty of other people) that this is because most people who would buy a GTA game don't have Nintendo DS's. I know that's why I didn't get it. They're just two different audiences. It's mostly wasted effort to try to combine the two. Just work on the next GTA game for consoles and make some money for all your hard work!

...
...
I've never played GTA in my life because I've always had Nintendo consoles, (same with FFVII, actually, and a lot of things), and saw this crossover as a chance to sample it. After the reviews came in, I was set to buy it in a month or so, and after ZP talked about it, I'm a bit hesitant. We'll see. My point is though, the above arguments are two-way streets. Sometimes, when we buy a console, we do it at the risk of not having some games we would want, like someone who likes both Halo and SSB, and can only get one console.

Were the two lines of "..." really necessary? It made it sound like I was saying something crazy. And of course there will be some people like you who would buy the game, after all, it has to sell some copies. But the fact that it sold so poorly seems to attest to the fact that the amount of DS owners who will buy this game does not make up for the amount of GTA fans who can't buy the game because they don't have a DS. So yes it works for some people, but overall it's a bad idea.

First of all, the dots were necessary, because it's supposed to convey the feeling that I've thought a lot about this before posting, and am not just flinging poo like so many others. Not to say you have, far from it, as your point certainly could be valid.

...

But it's not (and yes, the dots are sill necessary).

I think it's just a lacking concept in general to put "hardcore" games on portable devices, especially the DS. I would say that GTA mainly targets 15-35 year old males, while it seems that almost everyone I've ever seen holding a DS is younger than 15, and those who are older and using it are casual gamers (aka GIRLS) who would not buy the game anyways.

That's crap and you know it.

How old are you, even? Because I'd say more than every other male in the university I go to has one.

The point here is that virtually everyone I know has a DS. Period, end of sentence, begin a new sentence about the sentence discussing sentences.
The sentiment that the DS is something only kids buy is generally something felt by people who own a PSP and are annoyed that most of the world thinks it's the DS that's superior, people who live in small communities where everyone has the same console, and the vastly misinformed.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

The thing is, the Nintendo core fanbase doesn't play GTA, they play Mario and Zelda.

This. The majority of DS owners are under 18. Hell, half the ones i know are under 12.

True that. My six year old daughter and most of her friends have one. It's the mobile phone of the under 12's.

 

[SmugFrog]

I thought about picking up a DS, but like NewClassic said, it's going to take more than 1 or 2 games to make me really want one.

As it is now, after Nintendo releases their next big thing maybe I can get one cheap and play the games I've missed.

 

[LeslieLu]

I have a hunch some people are waiting for the DSi to be released before they buy GTA: Chinatown Wars. The game is really, really awesome though, in my humble opinion.

And heads up, GameStop?s got a Chinatown Wars contest to win a ?mob boss experience? on their site, http://www.gamestopchinatown.com. Airfare for 4 to New York, private limo, hotel, model entourage, VIP room at a club, bodyguard and $5000 in cash. It?d be a pretty sweet deal, especially in this recession. Free to enter.