While the Grand Theft Auto series has become available on most platforms, even its earliest iterations were synonymous with PlayStation formats.
So it came as no surprise when Rockstar announced the formerly DS-exclusive Chinatown Wars was heading to PSP. The publisher is confident that the game can recreate the success it met on Nintendo’s handheld.
“We see Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars as the must-have PSP game this Christmas for mature gamers,” says general manager Neil Stephen. “The GTA series has an extremely strong heritage on the PSP. We are extremely proud that Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories are the two best-selling titles in the platform’s history.
“With Chinatown Wars, we are bringing one of the most critically acclaimed handheld experiences of all time to an established GTA fanbase on PSP. We have also fully enhanced the game and added a bunch of new exclusive content including extra narrative story missions and hours of additional music.”
Universally acclaimed by the press, the game is an ideal purchase for fans of the old school GTAs. Despite being set in the same iteration of Liberty City as GTA IV, it drops the 2008 smash hit’s gritty atmosphere and revisits the more fun and almost cartoony nature of the series’ origins.
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Shunning the 3D worlds of the City Stories titles, the game opts for a more rigid pseudo top-down perspective and much more basic graphics.
“The beauty of Chinatown Wars is how much fun it is and, like every GTA game, it is the sum of the parts and the multitude of activities that make the game addictive and compelling,” says Stephen.
“Chinatown Wars has also been specifically designed for portable gaming and as a result it is very arcadey, with an epic story campaign and hours of surprises and distractions spread across the biggest world we have ever created on a handheld platform.”
GRAND PROSPECTS
While the GTA name alone is enough to grab the attention of hardcore gamers, Rockstar is keen to ensure everyone knows the series has returned to PSP, introducing Chinatown Wars to a new audience.
“There is a massive installed base for the PSP in the UK that is fast approaching 3.5 million owners,” Stephen says. “A large proportion of this audience are fans of GTA, since we are the best-selling franchise on the console. As a result, we are targeting this userbase as directly as possible.”
Rockstar has arranged advertising across a range of traditional and more unusual outlets, not the least of which is a heavyweight national phone kiosk ad campaign, which will run in high traffic areas and as close to games retailers as possible.
There will also be a nationwide radio campaign that is set to reach an audience of nearly three million
people and the firm has also secured plenty of support for Sony to boost the game’s launch.
There will be a multiple insertion lifestyle print campaign, supported by a strong online campaign across casual and gaming websites, featuring rich media banner ads, pre-roll, website reskins and takeovers. Online advertising also includes sponsorship of the UK version of South Park Studios, a portal which archives the popular show’s episodes.
Rockstar is also utilising several retail databases to target the PSP audience directly, and has designed a range of POS that should dominate PSP store space.
