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Forums - General Discussion - VGChartz and how it's viewed by the press

shakarak on 28 November 2012

So I decided to google VGChartz to find the first forum topic that pulled up in the results  (I was bored and procastinating).  What I found was something a lot more interesting. I looked through the first 5-7 pages of google results and to my surprise is quite a few of the search results were negative articles about VGChartz.

So I was wondering why VGChartz get slammed so often by other gaming sites, is it beacuse the site doesn't release it's sources?  Has VGChartz earned it's bad reputation? More importantly does it affect the future  growth of the forums, gamrview, and gamewise?  I believe this must of been one of the many reasons Brett decided to seperate Gamreview and Gamewise from the VGchartz brand?

Just wondering what everyones opinion is about this.  

A few articles that have a negative spin on them I found.

 http://www.vg247.com/2011/03/31/gamepro-g4tv-and-vgchartz-busted-content-spamming-reddit/

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2008/06/why-we-dont-ref/

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=18919#.ULXYzIdQXJY

http://www.examiner.com/article/why-vgchartz-isn-t-considered-reliable

http://kotaku.com/319679/npd-surprised-at-backlash-hate-vgchartz-real-bad



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DanneSandin on 28 November 2012

How accurate IS VGC really?? I see a lot of games that MOST be undertracked...



I'm on Twitter @DanneSandin!

Furthermore, I think VGChartz should add a "Like"-button.

DanneSandin on 28 November 2012
RolStoppable said:
kowenicki said:
Most of those articles are pretty old.

VGC is more professional now. It is one source of information. Thrown in the "official" trackers and company shipping information and you have as good a picture as you can hope for.

Not sue why anyone would have a vendetta against a site that is merely trying to clarify.... unless of course they don't like the numbers. The real problem is fanboys exploding when the result isn't what they want, they then spread the bad word and this is (was) reflected on some websites.

This would be perfectly true, if VGC made adjustments to hardware numbers that are obviously false. At some point last year we had DS sell-through outpacing DS shipments and it took months until this was corrected. The same holds true for the PSV this year.

VGC being off on software (especially smaller games) isn't really that big of a deal. There are hundreds of games released each year, so it's bound to happen. For the majority of relevant games, VGC gets within the margin of error they set for themselves.

I don't mind it either, if VGC is off on hardware every now and then. But in instances like the above mentioned with shipment data and Nintendo's graphs for the European market being available, it shouldn't take more than a week until the figures are corrected.

Yeah, I get the feeling that VGC is slow at correcting errors, or simply just don't care to do it... It's a shame really.



I'm on Twitter @DanneSandin!

Furthermore, I think VGChartz should add a "Like"-button.

Mr Khan on 28 November 2012

lol @ the sour grapes from the NPD guy.

NPD is elitist ass.



Monster Hunter: pissing me off since 2010.

Arcturus on 28 November 2012

Credible websites don't use Z's as a replacement for S's in their title.



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zuvuyeay on 28 November 2012

it doesn't seem to be viewed that well but like kowen said they are oldish,

i thought people agreed the hardware figures were pretty good after the last set of shipments,it seems pretty hard to track s/ware these days i wonder how often they re-jig their calculator thingy and if they'll ever include a digital estimator



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sales2099 on 28 November 2012

Its the best source we got, and its free :)

Plus they tend to correct figures once hard data comes out, so it all evens out



Xbox: Best hardware, Game Pass best value, best BC, more 1st party genres and multiplayer titles. 

 

Jaywood2010 on 28 November 2012

A lot of vgchartz info is incorrect. let's be honest, would we want to use this if it wasn't free? I know I'd never pay for incorrect numbers. But it gives me a sense of how well each product is selling so I like that.

Then again people talk bad about gamespot, IGN, and gametrailers, and they are probably some of the best gaming websites.  Can't make everybody happy I guess.

 "You wanna make an omelet, you gotta break some eggs."




       

kitler53 on 28 November 2012
RolStoppable said:
...

This would be perfectly true, if VGC made adjustments to hardware numbers that are obviously false. At some point last year we had DS sell-through outpacing DS shipments and it took months until this was corrected. The same holds true for the PSV this year.

VGC being off on software (especially smaller games) isn't really that big of a deal. There are hundreds of games released each year, so it's bound to happen. For the majority of relevant games, VGC gets within the margin of error they set for themselves.

I don't mind it either, if VGC is off on hardware every now and then. But in instances like the above mentioned with shipment data and Nintendo's graphs for the European market being available, it shouldn't take more than a week until the figures are corrected.

 

shakarak said:

So I decided to google VGChartz to find the first forum topic that pulled up in the results  (I was bored and procastinating).  What I found was something a lot more interesting. I looked through the first 5-7 pages of google results and to my surprise is quite a few of the search results were negative articles about VGChartz.

So I was wondering by VGChartz get slammed so often by other gaming sites, is it beacuse the site doesn't release it's sources?  Has VGChartz earned it's bad reputation? More importantly does it affect the future  growth of the forums, gamrview, and gamewise?  I believe this must of been one of the many reasons Brett decided to seperate Gamreview and Gamewise from the VGchartz brand?

...

yes, yes it has.  1M+ adjustments to ps3 and 360 sales (over the course of a quarter) just add to the farce that is our "data".  when i think vgchartz the phrase broken clock comes to mind.  besides, as things get increasingly digital the numbers become increasingly irrelavent.   

..but i like the people in the forum.



Panama on 28 November 2012

Well it's free and its numbers are adjusted promptly and accordingly, so it definitely has that going for it. Granted having someone shit onto your plate is also free, so you have to be careful as to how much you lower your standards. Then again, there are probably suckers that pay for that sort of service.