Topic: Chinatown Wars Enjoys Steady Second Month of Sales

[NWR_pap64]

Over 70,000 copies sold in the title's second month of release.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=18469

 According to NPD sales numbers, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars has enjoyed a healthy second month of release. The game sold 74,000 copies in April, which is slightly smaller than the title's March debut of 89,000.    

The announcement of Chinatown Wars'first month sales surprised many fans and analysts who expected the brand name to attract a lot of players to the DS-exclusive title. This sparked a controversy regarding if there is an audience for M-rated titles on Nintendo's consoles.    

The combined sales put Chinatown Wars at 163,000 copies so far. With the second month of sales being solid, the title could enjoy good lifetime sales despite its initial disappointing debut.

[Jonnyboy117]

That's pretty consistent, so good news.  Hopefully word of mouth helps to keep it going for a while.

[vudu]

I found this article at Kotaku pretty interesting.

According to NPD Group data from Gamasutra, the Nintendo DS title from Rockstar Games managed to move another 74,000 copies in the United States. A drop from the 89,000 copies sold in its first month on the market, but not a dramatic one. But Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars NPD per day (NPD-PD) sales tell a slightly different story.

Chinatown Wars was only on sale for 19 days in March, giving us an average of 4,684 copies sold per day.

In April, the DS game had 28 days to shine, according to the NPD Group's reporting period. That's an average of 2,642 copies per day. That drop is more considerable.

If you only look at total sales, it looks like sales dropped by about 17%.  But if you look at average daily sales, they dropped 44%.

You also have to keep in mind that there was a week in April where Best Buy sold the game for $20.  How many units do you think that accounted for?  Quite a bit, I imagine.

[NWR_Lindy]

That's why I bought my copy.  GTA:CW is a steal at $20.

[Flames_of_chaos]

That's why I bought my copy.  GTA:CW is a steal at $20.

Same here, I also bought Overlord: Raising hell for $10.

[AV]

it's spin. They are pretending to be happy for solid numbers but rockstar has become very spoiled. GTA games tend to sell millions in a month or very close to it. So compared to GTA 4 or whatever its a flop.

it might be able to squeeze out a million before the end of the year.

[EasyCure]

That's why I bought my copy.  GTA:CW is a steal at $20.

Uuugh! Where was I when this happened!?

[NWR_Lindy]

We'll see what happens over the next few months, after the spotlight on the game has died down.  That'll be more telling...or not, since this is one game out of dozens.

[NWR_pap64]

it's spin. They are pretending to be happy for solid numbers but rockstar has become very spoiled. GTA games tend to sell millions in a month or very close to it. So compared to GTA 4 or whatever its a flop.

it might be able to squeeze out a million before the end of the year.

Um, Rockstar hasn't said anything about this. The data comes from the NPD and the story came from Gamasutra. I don't recall Rockstar saying anything about it.

Also, you seem to think that games only make profit when they sell a gajillion copies on the first hour. Even if Chinatown Wars doesn't become a monster hit its still profit for Rockstar and that's what all game companies really want.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

I thought it was prestige and recognition and high-fives during trade shows.

[NWR_pap64]

I thought it was prestige and recognition and high-fives during trade shows.

Those are mainly the developers and PR people. The ones truly running the show are the suits behind the scenes waiting to see if the game is truly profitable.

In all seriousness, the ones to make a big deal over this are the fans who need something to make their fandom seem like its worth a sh*t. Fandom and arrogance is one thing, business is a whole another monster.

Its the thing Sean Malstroms are made of .

[Jonnyboy117]

Also, you seem to think that games only make profit when they sell a gajillion copies on the first hour. Even if Chinatown Wars doesn't become a monster hit its still profit for Rockstar and that's what all game companies really want.

You have no idea when the game becomes profitable. There is a break-even point based on how much it cost to develop, publish, and market. We'll never know if Chinatown Wars becomes profitable -- we can only assume that it will if sales numbers get pretty high.

Adolph, there is no way U.S. sales will reach a million this year unless the trend reverses with a major spike upwards. I think it's totally possible, but it won't happen naturally. Rockstar and/or Nintendo would have to do some new marketing to counteract the natural decay of sales over time. They also need to worry about keeping it on store shelves so people will actually see it when they go shopping, as retailers (especially Gamestop) don't display games forever, and the most visible spaces always go to the new/hottest titles.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Retail space is a crazy thing.  Sometimes I'd like to know who decides what games to stock and where to stock them so I can whop them with a large trout.

[Peachylala]

Lol where would you get a huge trout big enough to do the job?