Nintendo Calls Chinatown Sales Frustrating; Implies Lack of Marketing

So it's been 8 months since "Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars" released on the Nintendo DS, and, despite critical acclaim, the sales still haven't picked up. MTV multiplayer spoke with Cammie Dunaway, the EVP of sales and marketing for Nintendo of America, about why she thought the game didn't come close to the numbers you'd expect from a "GTA" title. For her it's a simple case of marketing, and that not enough long-term marketing support was placed on the title.

[danthegardner]

It's just the fact that people who own DS's don't want GTA of any form.

[qface64]

really? well then why did i go buy my copy on day 1?

[Mr Face Creamer]

It's really a shame especially since this game was so fun, I remember how I would give it at least a 2 hour session and that is considered alot for since I can barely play on my PSP or iPhone for more than 20 minutes.

[Sarcasm]

"really? well then why did i go buy my copy on day 1? "

So... YOU equals the entire DS install base?

[qface64]

no i never said or implied that in any way
he said DS owners wouldn't want GTA in any way on the ds well me and the people who actually bought the game disagree

[Hisiru]

The DS version will probably give a profit but I can't say the same thing for the PSP version:
-DS version
http://www.vgchartz.com/gam...
-PSP version:
http://www.vgchartz.com/gam...

The problem isn't the DS, people want a GTA like Liberty City Stories now.

[TheDeadMetalhead]

And on that subject, why hasn't San Andreas Stories been made? @_@

[Hisiru]

I don't know, maybe they thought they would sell much more on the DS making a new game because of the installed base. The problem is that they could make a much more appealing game(graphicaly speaking, just take a look at C.O.P), GTA:CHW would appeal to this so-called "next gen" and it would sell much more.

I had much more fun with GTA:CHW than with LCS or VCS but some people don't think it's a good game just because of the graphics.

[LesterCorncrake]

for me its a simple case of pirating

[EpsilonTeam]

"for me its a simple case of pirating"

Could also be that people knew that it will come to the psp eventually and bought it there.

[Sarcasm]

I don't see why it's it's such a mystery.

It's like they're trying to sell steak to a bunch of vegetarians and then scratch they're heads why the sales are so low.

Companies are really dumb and smart at the same time. They're smart for porting something like Quantum Theory to the 360 because it may not sell well on one platform, so making it for the console that is predominantly played by shooter fans is a good decision.

But when it comes to making games for Nintendo, they wonder why they cant catch a "break."

[TheDeadMetalhead]

I think LesterCorncrake is right about this one. Everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY I know downloaded this game when it was leaked (3 days before release) on either their Flashcarts or for an emulator on PC.

It's a shame that it didn't sell very well, because it was very fun and pretty unique.

[PS3and4_HAS_GAMES]

they can market it all they want but when you have 90% of your buyers between the ages of 5 and 10 with half being females than a game like gta wont sell..simple as that..its like selling a wii fit type game on ps3 or 360

[snake-OO]

its nintendos own fault, they are the ones who have marketed the wii and ds to no gamer market.

[SpoonyRedMage]

You know like the DS version got a pathetic 90K in just over a week?...the PSP totally demolished it with....12K!

Obviously the PSP is teh moar hardcore handheld, lets not mention the fact that Gran Turismo(Sony's biggest franchise) sold more like a mid-tier racer.... lets just keep trolling the DS, hey guys?

[Hisiru]

Yup, they will ignore the fact that it's selling much worse on the PSP and blame the DS. As I said before: The game is great but people want "moar graphics".

[Theodore87]

People who own both like me had already got the DS version by the time the PSP version came out. And the PSP version doesn't look any better. It was built for DS (with touch screen) and ported to the PSP (With analog stick) so if you have to make a choice, it's obviously the DS version. We'll see if they make another portable GTA that takes advantage of the PSP hardware.

[Wildarmsjecht]

Look at the past GTA titles on the PSP. They sold very well, better than Chinatown Wars right? Whats the difference between them and CW? They were made with the PSP in mind and wasn't a port from a lower-tiered platform almost 10 months later. Obviously people who wanted the game the way it was bought it on the DS. It just so happens that that wasn't very many people. I figure if they built it from the ground up for the PSP and added more than the little enhancements they did add, it would've sold around the same as the past titles.

Id also like to mention the type of game GTA is. The demographic of DS owners have the majority filling people who can't buy GTA (children and the parents that actually won't buy a M rated game for their kids and later blame the games for their shortcomings)

And whats the point of bringing the GT in this topic? In fact, I don't believe anyone was really even trolling the DS till you made a mention of it. Fact of the matter is, it's easy as heck to pirate games on both the PSP and the DS. Both are suffering when it comes to software sales with some games, not because one is more hardcore.

[Hisiru]

LCS and VCS did well because they are fully 3D. CHW won't sell well on the PSP because it has a different perspective (camera).

If CHW bombed on the PSP, why can't it bomb on the DS? People don't like this perspective and that's all.

If CHW sold much better on the DS (comparing the same game and not CHW DS x LCS), what makes you think that a fully 3D GTA like LCS can't sell better on the DS?

Why can't the DS owners disapprove this perspective just like the PSP owners did?

Sorry but there is no excuse, the problem is the perspective, it's not like LCS. The DS CAN (not impossible) sell LCS much better than the PSP just like it did with CHW but we don't know because there is no GTA fully 3D like LCS on the DS.

If you aren't just a child (yes, trolls are children for me) and you have commonsense+brain you will agree with me because it's just a matter of 2+2.

[Wildarmsjecht]

Yes perhaps perspective played a role in it, but ultimately I don't believe that was the main issue. I think its more along the lines of porting a game almost a year later to a fanbase that was used to having a GTA game that was drastically different from what CW offered.

Did you honestly believe CW to sell 90k in its first week on the PSP many months after it already released on the DS, especially when those same PSP owners probably played LCS n VCS? To be fair, the game bombed technically on both platforms. DS owners had an opportunity to show that most of their demographic had major interest in a GTA game, after years of being left in the dust.

Frankly, if they made the game focusing on the strengths of each platform and released them simultaneously instead of porting and stripping the major feature of one platform to fit on the other platform with a few more enhancements almost a year later, we'd probably be seeing different comparisons. But they didnt. They ported it later.

edit - just read ur edit. Seriously? If someone doesn't agree with you, they're a troll? Look its one thing to have a preference, but to defend ur system to the point where you'll preemptively set it up so that anyone who disagrees is a troll, then you have a problem. The game was fun, but it didnt fit the demographic of the DS. That cannot be argued. Top down was used in the first 2 GTA's just fine and they were just as fun. If they made it fully 3D for the DS and kept the same M rating, I still believe it would not have sold. If they released it day and date with the PSP or even made it so it looked like it belonged on the PSP, i believe it would've sold better. But again, they didn't.

[asdr3wsfas]

"The game was fun, but it didnt fit the demographic of the DS. That cannot be argued."

All my hd console owning only friends have a DS. I PC gamed for years and have a wii, ps3, and DS. You can argue it all day.

My friends all have R4 cards too. Adults can warez.

You're partially correct but you mistake the DS demographic. My take is that most DS owners are bored of the same old video game being slightly updated and rereleased each year. For some reason HD console owners can take trivially different sandbox and FPS games and consider them new. Those of us who like our wiis and DS better than our HD consoles are just sick of the same old watered down pc games being trivially updated each year. Nintendo did market research on this, that's why DS and wii attracts lapsed gamers. We're bored of the same thing. It may be because we're a different demographic, but not because we're not hardcore (I'll murder you in PC or wii FPS). It's because we get bored with games that are essentially updated versions of titles we played 10 years ago.

[Hisiru]

"Did you honestly believe CW to sell 90k in its first week on the PSP many months after it already released on the DS, especially when those same PSP owners probably played LCS n VCS?"
Yes! LCS sold almost 6M and VCS sold 3M. If they really like GTA games why aren't they buying CHW? They will ignore it because of the graphics, DS owners can simply ignore it just like PSP owners.

"DS owners had an opportunity to show that most of their demographic had major interest in a GTA game"

PSP owners doesn't have any interest in CHW because of the perspective of the camera. DS owners probably didn't had interest. If the game looks bad for me because of the graphics, why should I buy it? Just because it has "GTA" in the name?

We will know for sure if the DS can sell better than the PSP if LCS is released for the DS even with lower graphics.

@Edit:
And no. I am not defending my system, I have a PSP. I am defending the truth. People love to say "DS is for children bla bla bla" but they never try to think logically.

DS sold a not fully 3D GTA game better than the PSP, it can sell a fully 3D GTA game better than the psp. The problem is that all you want to think is "GTA CHW bombed on the DS and it can't sell a GTA game", but you are using a not fully 3D gta game as if it has to appeal to every DS owner. If it's REALLY good and appealing to anyone why it bombed on the PSP?

[Wildarmsjecht]

i dont consider anyone hardcore or not. if ur a gamer, ur a gamer. But i do believe that the majority of DS owners are not interested in GTA, and not solely because of what you said.

There's a few issues that arose when considering CW sales:
Theres the M rating, the demographic, perhaps the perspective (but im not sold on that) , and of course piracy.

Like u said oobob, all your friends who have the DS have an R4. They're not the only ones who can legally purchase a M rated game but decide to download it instead. It happens and it does affect sales.

[Hisiru]

"The game was fun, but it didnt fit the demographic of the DS"

and it didn't fit the demographic of the PSP, look at the sales, no1 cares about this game, the problem isn't the DS or the PSP, the problem is the game. The game is fun but the graphics keep it from selling much better (on both systems).

[asdr3wsfas]

"They're not the only ones who can legally purchase a M rated game but decide to download it instead. It happens and it does affect sales."

I smoked cigarettes daily as a teenager. It's easier to find someone over 18 while in middle or high school than to buy weed. You buy the game once, not daily like cigs. You can get adults at the gas station to buy them for you, think it's harder to have someone buy you a game? How many middle school kids have parents who take them to R movies?

Also, saying it didn't sell as well on PSP cause they already bought it on DS hurts your argument about the different demographic. If people didn't buy it for PSP cause they had it for DS then the handheld owners who would have purchased it own both systems and ARE a part of the DS demographic.

[SpoonyRedMage]

Why should it matter if it's a port from a "lower-tiered platform"? it's not like the PSP is saturated with games and it's not like they played the DS version because it bombed. Plus the game WAS upgraded for the PSP.

Plus the last two GTAs were released years ago and since then the PSP has declined, especially in the west.

Surely if DS owners missed a chance to prove that M rated games sell on the DS(although according to Cammie we already have with Resi: DS and COD4 DS being million sellers) then PSP owners missed a chance to prove that they're more hardcore than DS owners.

[starcb26]

cod 4 on the ds was rated T

[spinbot_lv1]

90% of people who own DS or Wii want Mario games,cooking mama,brain training,professor layton,wii sport, wii fit,dogs,cats, and few other casual games.any other hardcore games will not sell on DS and Wii,simply because DS and Wii owners don't like them.

[asdr3wsfas]

My friend is a 360 and pc gamer who owns a DS for those games and FPS. He loves touching to aim.

Did you just call Mario casual? What are you, 15?

[Jamescagney]

The thing is that while a good amount of adults own a ds I would imagine that the VAST majority of ds owners are children. And while I'm sure some parents will quite happily buy an 18+ game for their kids, a lot won't.

[asdr3wsfas]

Most people I knew played GTA as teenagers and quit when becoming adults.

[Bengoshi-San]

Nice try Cammie, but we all know its the audience and not the advertising thats the problem.

I live/work in NYC, and trust me.. this game is and was advertised all over the place. Rockstar employees were even driving around vans with GTA Chinatown Wars painted on them, giving away free stuff, and GameStops had rockstar employees demoing the game and giving away t-shirts.

Lack of marketing/advertising Cammie? C'mon Son. watdafukyoutalkinbout!

[Kassanova07]

Nintendo can go to hell. How many times can you buy the same Mario and Zelda. The only thing that hardcore gamers have in the N camp is Metroid...and that is getting stale fast. F@ck you Nintendo and your shovelware. Soccer moms and noobs dwelve in.