Nintendo defends GTA: Chinatown Wars sales figures
Spokesman claims Rockstar masterpiece will have a long tail
Nintendo is hardly renowned for its excellent third-party relations, and it isn’t the sort of company to come out swinging in defence of a poor seller. But then, Rockstar isn’t your average third party developer.
In a rather unusual move, the Japanese giant has spoken out to quell murmurings over the perceived poor sales of GTA: Chinatown Wars.
It’s been reported that the title sold only 89,000 copies in its first 18 days of sale in the U.S, but Steve Singer, Nintendo’s vice president of licensing, told MTV that Chinatown Wars was “performing in line with AAA titles that have come to our platform.”
Singer attributed the slow start to “having only a limited number of M-rated games on the platform,” and pointed to the “non-traditional sales curves” of many DS titles as a reason to expect strong sales later down the line.
The buzz around Rockstar’s portable crime-sim has been strong, with the game achieving almost universal praise - including a Platinum Award from this very website. It remains to be seen if such critical praise and positive word of mouth is enough to bring Chinatown Wars the sales it deserves.
