Since its release on the DS earlier this year, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars has received significant praise from the press (as well as from our very own Matt Green). The unfortunate truth of the matter at hand however is that its sales numbers have been lower than expected, but Nintendo seems optimistic about it all.

Remember that many games for Nintendo DS have a nontraditional sales pattern. The trend is toward 'evergreen' games that sell well over an extended period of time instead of in a one-month spike. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for Nintendo DS is a good example. In its first month (November 2007), it sold only 36,000. To date, it has sold through nearly 500,000. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars is a great game that has received tremendous reviews. We expect that with continued backing, it will follow the same long-tail/evergreen sales route that other top sellers have taken. -- Denise Kaigler

In addition to her opinion on the matter, Steve Singer, Vice President of Licensing and Third Party Relations, believes that the title is very important. He is pushing for it to be the game to prove that good quality mature content can be created for the Wii and DS systems and that "all it's going to take is time."

I sure hope they're both right. It is a terrific game and deserves the sales numbers, though 86,000 isn't terrible for one of seven mature rated games on the platform. What do you guys think about the "evergreen" sales pattern? Do you think the game deserves a good sales boost?