| Esa-Petteri said: Huge disappointment. It is gta after all. |
most of take-two's comments on the game have been them hinting that they expect the title to sell over time. no one was really expecting a gang buster opening, personally i thought it would hit closer to VGC's numbers given that a large number of core gamers own a ds and could be considered fans of the series. obviously many who own gta on xbox/ps3 or even psp didnt deem gta on ds a pick up. (at least within the launch window)
it gets a bit annoying seeing people question software sales on ds by stating, "buuut 100m!". the real installed base of ds owners who would consider buying a gta game is much smaller. since this is american sales only, your talking about 35m+ ds systems in rotation. minus the repeats/phased out systems (broken/useless/forgotten), minus the platform holders who would have no/little interest (kids/tweens, teens w/o access, women, 30+ and other expanded audiences) and your left with a much smaller base.
the issue with core or "mature/hardcore" games on the ds isn't that the platform is owned by a large amount of kids/expanded audiences (as stated, the ds has a lagre enough base with core gamers). its getting the core gamers with a ds to purchase your title. hand held systems are still viewed in a very different light outside of japan, especially when it comes to core gamers. many gamers own a ds and or psp but how many actually put a lot of time and usage into the platform?. many still view hand helds as something to entertain you while at work, on the bus or an environment where you cant access a console. not a in depth game experince. (its noticable even with large franchises on their homebase; see zelda sales on portable vs console and the attach rate of the game in japan vs U.S.). even with gta on the psp, which can be viewed more favorable than a gta ds (sony platform/3d), the 2nd title (a more fair compairson vs the 1st title) didnt pull huge numbers and gta on ds, so far, is selling a bit better.
((((((((((((( somewhat offtopic: this is where i believe a real battle needs to be had on nintendos part. while the psp may be failing in many regards, it dose get a fair amount of usage from its core audience (even if its largely pirated). while on the ds, you have a core gamer ownership who either play it all the time or rarely spend time with the system. nintendo needs to increase the usage statistics on ds. dsi (imo) is a big step towards this, with providing a more personalized experience that can also grow, change and provide content to keep the platforms user active. a more used system and active user = more product the user buys. this is esp important when considering core gamers on the system easily becoming detached )))))))))))))))
gta: chinatown wars can be a perfect example of this type of attitude in the community. its a traditional top down gta game, harkening back to the original gta's. looking at the history of the series, gta didn't hit critical mass untill it entered 3d. up until gtas entrance to 3d the game overall was considered pretty "meh" at best. even for me, someone who bought and played the original gta's, going back to this type of style of game play was somewhat unappealing and made me question buying chinatown wars. while chinatown wars is a good game, the top down traditional play just isn't as fun as 3d gta.
while im sure gta on the ds will have legs (almost all good selling ds games are about expanded sales, few have a large opening, even less when it comes to 3rd party) i believe its going to be a tougher climb than some think. i think enough of the core crowd will pick up chinatown over time, but not in any real number at once. if this is something take-two will walk away from with a positive spin, only time will tell. typically they are a fairly vocal publisher, so we should know at some point.
large franchises still work on ds, even ones that are mature CAN work. the fact is though that we don't have enough mature titles on the ds (and even on the wii, its still pretty anecdotal) to really know much about the market. core gamers are more aware of ways to pirate software on hand helds, would this be an issue with a mature title on ds?. core gamers are also the ones who were waiting for dsi, did this effect the overall launch window? many picked up the copy with their dsi. overall software sales in march were pretty weak, esp for titles that launched during the month (minus pokemon), economy or slow month?. personally it seems too difficult to pick one reason as to why the launch wasn't larger, it seems like it could have been a myriad of reasons.
overall though, in the long run i think gta on ds will encourage some developers by showing it can be done and met with success if planned and executed accordingly. its still frustrating to see so much stigma put on nintendo by the community and even people who work within the industry. old adages, true or not, always get applied and in turn very little thinking about the situation at hand occurs (IE, "buut 100m!, 3rd parties dont sell!, kiddie system").
