NPD is eliminating free video game numbers reports. The sound you just heard were hundreds of video game bloggers crying out in unison, as if their biggest story of each month was suddenly snuffed out of existence. Because it was.
NPD is eliminating free video game numbers reports. The sound you just heard were hundreds of video game bloggers crying out in unison, as if their biggest story of each month was suddenly snuffed out of existence. Because it was.
I wonder if the numbers will still leak. I hope they do, it’s always good to see what people actually buy and not what they seem interested in (read hype).
By the way, found a nice chart:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AsPcHbu9j7EGdEtfRUEyY0VLZFA3Z3kyWTN5NHY1SGc&hl=en_GB#gid=0
Since comments cannot be edited… Noticed it earlier, will say it now: it’s a pity that the *only* comment where P**chy agreed with something I said was deleted.
http://www.jackloftus.com/2010/08/teen-anime-bullshit/#comment-913
Well, he thought the game would sell buttloads so I’m not surprised he agreed.
Sorry about that, Terebi. When you mark an account as spam, which it certainly was, it takes all previous comments and removes them as well.
— The sound you just heard were hundreds of video game bloggers crying out in unison, as if their biggest story of each month was suddenly snuffed out of existence. Because it was. —
Even worse; they will now have to get their sales fix from *GASP* VGChartz.com which is NEO-GAF’s devil incarnate the last five or so years. Let’s see how many of those posters who defended NPD Fun turn into hypocrites. That will be funnier than the actual meltdown.
@Jack: Yeah, no problem =)
@Gregory: I was not aware of that relationship between NeoGaf and VGChartz. So, NeoGaf does not believe any numbers that come from VGChartz?
While having those numbers were interesting – at least in an armchair analysist view – it’s not something vital to the integrity of the games industry. Afterall, there is no such thing!
If nothing else, having a subscription/pay setup for NPD may mean NPD will go the extra mile to offer deeper analysis. Plus its not like NPD is giving it to the Industry for free and phasing out the public – I’m guessing anyone who has the money can buy a report. Although something tells me the game “media” would rather throw a tantrum, stomp and cry over “freedom of information” and other nebulous concepts, than let their bottom line suffer for a continued flow of info to their readerbase.
Much easier to stoke the fires of mob mentalities than to put your money where your mouth is for principled reporting, right?
@Kevin
“If nothing else, having a subscription/pay setup for NPD may mean NPD will go the extra mile to offer deeper analysis.”
That’s already how it’s done. If websites like IGN keep paying for it, they’ll still have access to most numbers, which is how it’s been for a long time, but now they won’t be allowed to post them.
Companies are already paying for detailed numbers. This is only meant to keep the top numbers from the public, which is highly suspicious.
Jonah, IGN doesn’t pay for it…in fact, no media does because the NPD Group doesn’t sell data to the media. They sell only to qualified retail establishments or to companies that sell products to qualified establishments. And the base subscription fee is $20,000.
NPD has been known to offer some of their data for news reports (after all, that’s marketing for them) but no more than that.
Actually, I’m pretty sure they do. If you remember, NPD also changed its policy last year and everyone thought we would stop getting the numbers. I can’t find the article right now, but when IGN announced that, they also said they were already paying to get the numbers. It’s obviously not the same as a company to get information on all its games, but I think they have access to the top 100.