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Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars was universally acclaimed by critics, but despite glowing reviews failed to match the blockbuster sales success of earlier home console versions.
While not the only reason for the game’s lacklustre sales, Take-Two CEO Ben Feder believes piracy played a big part.
“The handheld market is currently challenged by weak demand and by piracy,” Feder told MCV. “Piracy is a real and present danger for our industry and must be addressed, especially in the handheld market. The commercial performance of Chinatown Wars has certainly suffered at the hands of piracy.”
And yet GTA Chinatown Wars can still be regarded as a relative success in the mature-rated game category on DS, accounting for around half all mature game sales on the platform.
“As of February 2010, Chinatown Wars’ unit sales in the US represented nearly 50 per cent of the unit sales of all M-rated DS titles in the history of the platform,” Feder explained.
GTA Chinatown Wars is out now for Nintendo DS, PSP and iPhone/iPad.
