NPD: GTA: Chinatown Wars moved less than 90,000 copies, MadWorld fails to chart
- April 17, 2009 10:52 AM PST
- Email this!
The NPD sales data for March just hit and it's bad news all around for fans of M-rated games on Nintendo hardware, but especially bad news for Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.
Despite being the best-reviewed Nintendo DS game ever, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars failed to crack the top ten in sales. In fact, the word on the street is that its sales were less than 90,000 copies. So the seven of you who voted "around 100,000" on the last poll, give yourself a pat on the back and then weep bitter tears of disappointment.
More bad news is that, despite the number 10 game this month selling around 200,000 copies, MadWorld failed to chart. That means that - while we don't know how many copies it did move - it was definitely less than 200,000. Probably not the kind of sales Sega and Platinum were hoping for, but then again, I was hoping for a game that was less overtly repetitive.
Wii fans - or at least the ones reading this site - really want M-rated, "traditional" games to take off on Wii and to a lesser extent on DS. This is pretty concrete evidence that it may not happen on Wii and it's definitely not happening on DS. With MadWorld I think it can be debated as to whether or not the game was really good enough to crack the M-rated glass ceiling for Wii, but the sales for Chinatown Wars are just depressing.
Alicia Ashby writes for OMGNintendo.com
More Top GamePro Stories
Comments [50]
-
- Jump To Page:
- [ 1 ]
- 2
- 3
- 3
- 4
- 5
-
- Apr 17 2009 at 10:27:49:AM PST
-
I don't have a DS and I didn't try Chinatown Wars in any way, so I won't comment on the game itself. However, it seems to me that the GTA series is becoming overrated. GTA IV had the most glowing reviews all over the place and even though it sold well, I didn't see anything so spectacular that warranted all the hype. Maybe, just maybe people are beginning to get tired of GTA.
- Vote:
- Down
- Up
- +1
- report user
Chinatown Wars is really amazing... it feels like a console GTA. The city has amazing detail. I got it day one, but I downloaded it for free (as I'm sure a lot of people did). Shame on me... it is definitely one of the best DS games available. I wonder if the new DSi is harder to hack, because hacking the DS lite was just way too easy. Whenever a new game comes out, I can litterally Google it and get it for free in seconds.
- Vote:
- Down
- Up
- +1
- report user
This is definitely not good news for Wii and DS owners that want more mature games on those systems.
- Vote:
- Down
- Up
- +1
- report user
Yeah, about the only exceptions I can think of are games like Resident Evil 4 -- that sold really well on Wii (maybe because of the stellar reviews). Otherwise, it seems like M-rated games are really struggling on the Nintendo hardware.
- Vote:
- Down
- Up
- +0
- report user
The reason I didn't get Chinatown Wars for the DS is not because I'm adverse to M rated games on the DS, but because while it's a highly rated game, I'm not a huge fan of the top-down GTAs, not to mention I didn't care for GTAIV. So there was that.
As far as Madworld goes, I plan on getting the title eventually, but when the same month had Resident Evil 5 (and I had to replace my RRoD'd 360), I didn't have the disposable cash to pick it up immediately.
But in general I don't think M-rated titles are doomed on either system, it's just they'll probably have more of an upward battle due to their systems' perceptions as being more "family-oriented". It might not be completely true, but there is such a perception.
- Vote:
- Down
- Up
- +1
- report user
No more Heroes didn't do very well either, right? I bought it and I love the game but I am pretty sure that it didn't sell very well.
- Vote:
- Down
- Up
- +0
- report user
Chinatown wars is really a great game the dialogue is corny but the gameplay is where the game shines. I am not surprised it didn't sell well due to the fact that the ds is not a hardcore syestem. I was about to turn my ds in before Chinatown wars came out. I already beat it is very short, so i will probably turn it in now.
- Vote:
- Down
- Up
- +0
- report user
I think it's because sometimes swinging that wii mote around gets boring, plus kids are not into that type of junk till they get older, I don't play wii my niece does and she says she hates blood so that could be the cause why it isnt so popular.
- Vote:
- Down
- Up
- +0
- report user
You really can't get much more M-Rated then Mad World. It just needs sex scenes
- Vote:
- Down
- Up
- +0
- report user
DJKennethA wrote:
You really can't get much more M-Rated then Mad World. It just needs sex scenes
Only that it becomes an A/O game then.
- Vote:
- Down
- Up
- +0
- report user
