In what’s likely to be a blow against trolls and overzealous console fanboys, the NPD – who has routinely supplied monthly console hardware sales figures – have announced that they will no longer be doing so.
How in the hell are fanboys supposed to anonymously point digital fingers and laugh over the internet, misguidedly pointing out that “Hurr durr the Xbox totally outsold the PS3 by elevently squintillion units this month,†and “The Xbox only sold that many cos half of them melted herp-a-derp-derp?â€
The change is effective immediately and the onus is now on console manufacturers to supply the information – so expect squat, or a bunch of inflated shipped-instead-of-sold figures. “Clients can release their figures, which we can verify, but it shouldn’t be up to NPD to release these figures. Our corporate publishing guidelines changed, but nothing has changed client-side,†NPD honcho David Riley told VG247.
They will also no longer be releasing unit sales figures for games – but will continue to provide a list of the top 10 selling games.
Everyone’s favourite analyst Michael Pachter is unsurprised by their move. Speaking to VG247 he said “I’m not sure why they ever release any of their numbers to the press.â€
“They probably do so to generate publicity, and they have likely concluded that they get plenty by publishing only a little information, so they want to give less away for free. I pay a lot for access to the data, and probably could have skipped the hardware piece and gotten from the manufacturers directly, so they don’t want paying customers like me to turn off their subscriptions.â€
Although we’ve stopped using them as regularly, the NPD figures have been a staple here at Lazygamer – and it’s kinda sad to see them go – they’ve always spurred on some pretty damned stupid fanboy rants insightful and intelligent discussions. What’ll we do now?
Oh yeah! There’s always the super-accurate VGchartz!
Source : VG247
Last Updated: October 13, 2010
Uberutang
October 13, 2010 at 12:50
Noooooo, how will we flame the war now?
Bobby Kotick for Dummies
October 13, 2010 at 13:08
Who actually still quotes VGchartz? That’s like being in a township school and relying on Julius Malema to help you pass matric.
Gavin Mannion
October 13, 2010 at 13:45
I think people are overly critical against vgchartz… when the 360 was dominating every PS3 fanboy and his uncle would bitch and complain about vgchartz and as the PS3 started taking the lead the baton has fallen to 360 fanboys to bitch and complain.
They are not entirely accurate but they are generally always on the right path and give us a decent perspective of what is selling and where
RSA-Ace
October 13, 2010 at 14:01
I think the issue is that MS release their sales numbers and VGChartz are spot on. Then Sony release their sales numbers and VGChartz are way under…
easy
October 13, 2010 at 14:09
the hype over console sale figures has finally died, well over due imo. made stuffall difference to my purchasing decisions.
unfortunately it will all rise up again come the advent of the next-next gen consoles. it’s going to be fanidiot christmas all over again.
Bobby Kotick for Dummies
October 13, 2010 at 14:27
@Gav and RSA-Ace.
Not entirely, there’s a nice independent peer reviewed article that explains how VG chartz is actually a sham and that their weekly numbers are hardly “educated extrapolation” based on actual data (from retailer sales or even from other sales sources) but rather “thumb suckery” at its most vile. VG Chartz actually depends heavily on the NPD (in itself based on extrapolation -which in itself is not a bad thing, mind you), and on more than a few occasion have had to “fix” their sales predictions to reflect or be closer approximations of NPD values.
I disagree that they’re generally on “the right path” or give us “decent perspective”. In fact, no one takes their data seriously, and even Wikipedia (which itself is hardly the bastion of accuracy) shuns VGChartz. The major criticism of VGChartz is ultimately methodology. Who is providing them with raw data? And crucially why are they unwilling to disclose both?
Professional services that the gaming industry actually rely on do that, because its honest, and your clients depend on accurate projections with a slight margin of error (incidentally, statistical error is crucial in projections of any sort, and any publication or service that do not document or at least publish statistical error is a sham)
If Lazygamer wants to be taken seriously as a game JOURNALISM website, rather than “just a gamer blog”, you can not rely heavily on VGChartz. At its bare minimum, it could help you to formulate a specific point, but it can’t be used to justify or prove a point.
I hope that explanation helps in some way.
Fox1
October 13, 2010 at 15:29
I remember back in the day when Vgchartz used to be hit down as an unreliable source only until the following week NPD numbers where released to show Vgchartz is just as statistically accurate. But by then fanbois have moved on…
Bobby Kotick for Dummies
October 13, 2010 at 15:57
@Fox1 – Link please!
In any case, have you ever tried your hand at gambling, like Blackjack for instance? Would it be more likely or less likely that I would get a score of 21 on every completed deal?
Point is, VGChartz is not reliable, and has never been, and you can not base articles on their data.
ewie
October 13, 2010 at 16:17
To say vgcharts is not accurate and NDP is accurate not true.
They same is for gtrack and other services. They all have a margin of error, and in the case of ndp, vgchartz etc, this might be big. Borth of them are at the end of the day not 100% and they will never be.
I could write more but it would be a waste of time.
The most accurate data is what – Microsft / Sony etc are providing the business, and these also does not always correspond because they all use different definitions to say what is shipped.
Better part is more and more publishers is using VGChartz data as well. And if we look at the released data for Halo sales, taking the number of units sold (which could be out by a few %) they correspond to data released by Microsoft a day later etc.
Yes not 100% but you get a good feel of where the market is moving, and normally the Sony and Microsft support these trends. e.g Xbox tracking 50% higher that ps3 etc, or the other way round.
Bobby Kotick for Dummies
October 13, 2010 at 16:33
I thought, I already explained this, none of these services are “accurate”, however unlike VGChartz, the NDP routinely uses actual North American sales data -released by retailers-, in conjunction with historical data and presumably bits and pieces that they get from the paid services (the more reliable ones, that industry actually uses), which they than extrapolate (to fill in the blanks), do statistical analysis on or use it for rudimentary forecast modelling.
No one knows where VGChartz gets their data from, because (a) they’re not saying and (b) those that have tested their data have found it to be exceedingly erroneous (i.e. riddled with errors).
And no… my rant is not about the sales figures VGChartz post for the xbox or the ps3 (which invariably becomes a “Who has the bigger dick” contest in the minds of fanbois), but rather about raising awareness about how unreliable VGChartz is, and how many (gamers like you and me) actually believe it to be reliable, or merely accept it to be so.
Fox1
October 13, 2010 at 17:01
Can’t find a link right now but this debate is so 2006. If Vgchartz was inaccurate then people would have lost interest in them a long time ago.
@Gavin- I see the old smiley’s from 2006 have returned???
Bobby Kotick for Dummies
October 13, 2010 at 17:22
@Fox1 “If Vgchartz was inaccurate then people would have lost interest in them a long time ago.”
Wow.. just wow!
… And in the same line of thinking, billions of people believe in all sorts of funny religions, from the plausible to the downright insane, regardless of how strange they may be. So, what exactly is your point?
That even though it’s inaccurate, you’ll defend it because it “sales” figures show something that you approve of? 😉 😆
That’s rather sad!
Fox1
October 13, 2010 at 17:36
That even though it’s estimated and then corrected, you’ll disapprove of it because it “sales†figures show something that you disapprove of? 😉 😆
That’s rather common!
Luna
October 13, 2010 at 21:22
I think it’s a shame. Of course I have a favorite, but I like to see how everyone’s doing. I find it interesting to watch how things trend and to see if the figures match up to the reasons I know that are happening in the gaming world.
I can’t say I’m surprised that they don’t want to release the info freely any more. I’ve noticed that the amount of ads online, as a generality, have increased, and companies don’t seem to understand the poor economy is effecting their customers as well. In turn, I’m slightly annoyed that so many companies are screwing the customer to get more money for themselves.
Of course, I should know that’s always the way it was, and always the way it will be…. with the majority of companies at least.