GTA: Chinatown Wars should be a PSP game
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is an extremely fun game. The developers at Rockstar have done a mighty fine job in translating the latest iteration in the famous franchise to the Nintendo DS. However, despite the high expectations the sales have been lackluster. Rockstar may have made a mistake switching from the PSP to the DS.
According to Gamasutra, GTA: Chinatown Wars only managed to sell a measly 89,000 during its first month on the DS. Another hardcore game, Mad World only managed to sell around 66,000 on the Wii. The two main factors that tie both games are the fact that they are geared towards the mature audience.
With over 100 million Nintendo DS handhelds out in the wild, a measly 89,000 seems pathetic. There is little doubt that Rockstar decided to skip over the PSP and shoot right for the DS after realizing that the user-base was twice the size. However, the fatal mistake the studio made was judging the main audience of the Nintendo DS. The vast majority of the DS owners wouldn’t be interested in a game like Grand Theft Auto.
GTA: Chinatown Wars
GTA: Liberty City Stories
The studio just got a little too greedy for its own good. The series has been extremely successful on the PSP in the past. Sales for GTA: Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories have topped 9 million units sold on the PSP.
To get the game working on the DS, not only did the studio have to resort to cell shaded isometric graphics, but the signature voice acting is glaringly missing in the Chinatown Wars. If I could offer one bit of criticism to Rockstar, the studio needs to stick to the PSP because that is where fans are.
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13 Responses to “GTA: Chinatown Wars should be a PSP game”
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April 19th, 2009
Hell yeah they should remake it for PSP we cut scenes well just like the previous two GTA on PSP. The DS is for 12 years old or less the trash. Oh and yeah Madworld is mad gay that game looks so fucking useless boring i don’t why it those reviews. Oh and GTA Chinatown Wars sucks those review are pure lies. Stick with Sony or face death, that a gaming rule and fact.
April 19th, 2009
E3 will see a new PSP GTA game no doubt.
April 19th, 2009
lock_down:
I hope is Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Stories or a brand GTA game even a DS remake that looks like the previous GTA on pPS will be a nice thing for Rockstar North to do for us PlayStation Portable owners.
April 19th, 2009
A San Andreas stories for the PSP would be a great addition!
San Andreas is the Best GTA. IV was overrated!
April 19th, 2009
Vice City had the best sound track for me
April 19th, 2009
The gta chinatown wars is a great game and only works on the DS. Is not selling good? for all of you, because the Take-Two already said “this game will sell good with the time”, THERE IS NO WAY to put chinatown wars in the psp, because dont will have the touch screen with the PDA, GPS, etc and etc. In the psp will be only a game with new style without differencial in the gameplay and a lot of things that made the game interactive, fun and intuitive.
buy a DS and GTA, if you think that sales are not high, or give time to this game.
April 19th, 2009
Maybe DS users are not used to “hardcore” games and need to get used to them? Maybe because there are virtually no good “hardcore” games for the DS except for GTA: CTW?
April 19th, 2009
umm ok… main reason this tanked, who is it aimed at? teens and older… who is most likely to have an R4 or something alone those lines of a mod for the DS? teens and older… who is most likely to D.L the game with out paying a cent for it? teens and older… anyone else noticing a trend?
i have this game… i didnt pay for it but… the DS i think is going the way of the dreamcast even though it has 100mill out there
April 20th, 2009
Maybe GTA: Pokemon Wars would have sold better. Anyway, MadWorld presaged this outcome, as will, I feel, The Conduit. At least I have one more cool game to play on DS if I get around to it… and two more on Wii if I ever get one.
April 20th, 2009
“To get the game working on the DS, not only did the studio have to resort to cell shaded isometric graphics, but the signature voice acting is glaringly missing in the Chinatown Wars. If I could offer one bit of criticism to Rockstar, the studio needs to stick to the PSP because that is where fans are.”
Jesus Christ, how old are you, 12?
That’s an insult to 12 year olds actually, even they have more common decency.
April 20th, 2009
Ah, awaiting moderation. Looks like only your legions of PSP fanboys will be allowed a say in this.
April 20th, 2009
The first two PSP games are still top sellers each month. It should be a no brainer, but with the DS’s install base, I guess it was worth a try.
I would bet that China Town wars was much quicker and cheaper to make also.
April 22nd, 2009
And CTW will probably have a long shelf life as well.
In mentioning the first two PSP games, they both released in late October, this was released in March. As KZ2’s sales were not what they could have been due to a post holiday release, so are CTW’s not what they could have been. This coupled with the fact that there are only 7 other titles with mature content on the platform makes the DS a niche market for the adult hardcore audience. Even if they own one they have a much wider array of titles to choose from on PSP. That they are starting to add adult titles is a good sign. Nintendo has the kid/casual market sewn up, so what’s left? Going after the hardcore segment as well. It’s hard to do with an underpowered system, but if they keep on putting out quality titles like this, not impossible.
“Steve Singer, Nintendo of America’s Vice President of Licensing and Third-Party Relations tells MTV Multiplayer Blog the following in a phone interview:
‘Chinatown Wars’ is performing in line with AAA titles that have come to our platform like ‘Spore’ or ‘Lego Star Wars’. Those games went on to have very different life-to-date sales numbers.
Another Nintendo representative present brought attention to the case of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for the DS (released November 5, 2007 in North America) which initially had 36,000 in opening month sales going on to sell more than 500,000 units.
Singer blames the situation as “the result of having only a limited number of M-rated games on the platform.” DS only has had 7 so far. He believes word of mouth will help the game in the long run and expects the assessment of the gam’s performance to be very different 5 months to a year from now. He points out Nintendo’s history of “non-traditional sales curves” of games that start out modestly but sell steadily in an evergreen pattern.”
I think strategically, this is a very important game because it helps send the message that great M-rated content can come to the platform and will find a home.”
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