Analysts Disagree Over Chinatown Wars Sales News

A large disparity in sales projections for Rockstar's GTA: Chinatown Wars has surfaced between various industry analysts as the US market research firm, NPD prepares to publish its sales figures this week for the month of March.

According to Gamasutra, EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich has predicted a figure of 200,000 unit sales for the title during March, while noting that these sales would make it the best performing mature title on Nintendo's DS.

"The results from Chinatown are an important benchmark for the industry, as it will be the best-performing mature rated title on the Nintendo DS to date coupled with one of the strongest mature-rated game brands," said Divnich.

However, the EEDAR analyst was still wary of how these sales figures will affect other studios' stance on developing mature titles for the handheld, noting that previous expectations of the game's sales had been over-zealous based upon high scores from critics.

"With the majority of publishers currently taking a risk-adverse stance," Divnich continued, "we expect this to slow the growth rate of future mature rated titles on the DS."

Nevertheless, Divnich stated that he believes Chinatown Wars will probably post a profit for Rockstar. In contrast, Wedbush Morgan's industry analyst, Michael Pachter painted a much rosier picture of sales for the game, projecting 450,000 unit sales in the US during March.

The NPD figures are due to be published on Thursday, while Chinatown Wars continues to struggle in the UK Charts, this week coming in at No.4 on the DS chart below Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force.