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Forums - Sales Discussion - Does VGC report console sales figures too often?

 

Does VGC report console sales figures too often?

Yes 30 25.00%
 
No 68 56.67%
 
Unsure 4 3.33%
 
Why are there no cookies in this thread? 12 10.00%
 
Total:114
Xenostar on 03 July 2014
starcraft said:
Burek said:
I wouldn't say that using the word "guessing" is vitriol, as it is obvious that the weekly US figures, which are later compounded into monthly sales, are so far off from the "official" NPD numbers that it cannot by any reasoning be attributed to "margin if error". To be over 100% off on occasions, and even close to 2000% as is the case for Vita last month, is alarming.
It is alarming, when in a thread in which forum members are purely guessing the NPD sales numbers, VGC scores in the bottom 25% of users.

But the most alarming are instances in which VGC tracks sales of games (sorry, I know you said to forget software) that have not been released (Spiderman on X1), or those that are available only in a bundle (Borderlands 2 on Vita).

I don't think slowing down reports is the answer, the solution should be a comprehensive retooling of the data accumulation methods.

I should clarify that I dont think the word guessing is vitriol.  People display vitriol towards the site *for* allegedly guessing.

Also, there are no offical sales numbers through to consumers. NPD uses the same methodology as VGC, they just do so on a much larger sample size.  As such by definition there is nothing for VGC to be 'off.'  The only official numbers are shipped, which we receive quartely.  

To your last point, I agree.  But I am sure some degree of retooling is ongoing.


Nope people display vitirol, when the site is posting numbers that are clearly wrong in the face of overwhelming evidence. 

Its been very sloppy recently.



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Conegamer on 03 July 2014
Ka-pi96 said:
I wouldn't really mind if it went bi-weekly instead of weekly. As long as the updates are still coming I'd be happy

Agreed, so long as we get the numbers.

I do agree with much of what you say as well starcraft. There's some real negativity around these numbers, and sure they may have lost some of their reliability, but then again you don't need to use them if you don't want to, and it's also the only source we have unless you wait monthly for slightly more reliable numbers, or quarterly for official numbers.



 

Here lies the dearly departed Nintendomination Thread.

starcraft on 03 July 2014
Conegamer said:
Ka-pi96 said:
I wouldn't really mind if it went bi-weekly instead of weekly. As long as the updates are still coming I'd be happy

Agreed, so long as we get the numbers.

I do agree with much of what you say as well starcraft. There's some real negativity around these numbers, and sure they may have lost some of their reliability, but then again you don't need to use them if you don't want to, and it's also the only source we have unless you wait monthly for slightly more reliable numbers, or quarterly for official numbers.

But even then, 'lost some of their reliability' really refers to a couple of bad months for X1 and some poor Vita tracking (this console does so poorly in the West that anything short of a massive sample wont capture it well).

The other consoles haven't been too bad at all.



starcraft - Playing Games = FUN, Talking about Games = SERIOUS

Nadwki on 03 July 2014

So the weekly sales numbers may or may not be totally right and users discuss it, that's mostly the point of the site right?



Hedra42 on 03 July 2014
Nadwki said:
So the weekly sales numbers may or may not be totally right and users discuss it, that's mostly the point of the site right?

No.

This is mostly the point of the site:

"What VGChartz offers is timely data that isn't meant to be 100% accurate but be in the right range. We don't compete with the likes of NPD, GFK or ChartTrack; we offer a service that is totally different"

"To some users of VGChartz data, knowing that a game sold 7 million copies on day 1 with a margin of +-0.5 million and having that data hours after the end of the day is more valuable than having a more accurate figure two days later. These are the people who understand the idea behind VGChartz and what I am striving to achieve with the service." - ioi

The whole article, from which these excerpts are drawn, is here http://www.vgchartz.com/article/82746/editorial-why-it-is-so-easy-to-blame-vgchartz/



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Raziel123 on 03 July 2014

I don't think reporting less often would change much, considering the biggest adjustements happen after more than 2 weeks.
A maybe a little bit of common sense would be enough to prevent overtracking XB1, as you say, so often.



Nadwki on 03 July 2014
Hedra42 said:
Nadwki said:
So the weekly sales numbers may or may not be totally right and users discuss it, that's mostly the point of the site right?

No.

This is mostly the point of the site:

"What VGChartz offers is timely data that isn't meant to be 100% accurate but be in the right range. We don't compete with the likes of NPD, GFK or ChartTrack; we offer a service that is totally different"

"To some users of VGChartz data, knowing that a game sold 7 million copies on day 1 with a margin of +-0.5 million and having that data hours after the end of the day is more valuable than having a more accurate figure two days later. These are the people who understand the idea behind VGChartz and what I am striving to achieve with the service." - ioi

The whole article, from which these excerpts are drawn, is here http://www.vgchartz.com/article/82746/editorial-why-it-is-so-easy-to-blame-vgchartz/

Ok, maybe I am not getting it, but I don't see what I said contradicts anything you posted? 

From the link...

'Our primary goal is to provide independent data that is unavailable elsewhere to enable users to analyse the videogame industry.'



Hedra42 on 03 July 2014
Nadwki said:
Hedra42 said:
Nadwki said:
So the weekly sales numbers may or may not be totally right and users discuss it, that's mostly the point of the site right?

No.

This is mostly the point of the site:

"What VGChartz offers is timely data that isn't meant to be 100% accurate but be in the right range. We don't compete with the likes of NPD, GFK or ChartTrack; we offer a service that is totally different"

"To some users of VGChartz data, knowing that a game sold 7 million copies on day 1 with a margin of +-0.5 million and having that data hours after the end of the day is more valuable than having a more accurate figure two days later. These are the people who understand the idea behind VGChartz and what I am striving to achieve with the service." - ioi

The whole article, from which these excerpts are drawn, is here http://www.vgchartz.com/article/82746/editorial-why-it-is-so-easy-to-blame-vgchartz/

Ok, maybe I am not getting it, but I don't see what I said contradicts anything you posted? 

From the link...

'Our primary goal is to provide independent data that is unavailable elsewhere to enable users to analyse the videogame industry.'

You said that the main point of the site was for weekly sales that may or may not be right, and users discuss it. I inferred from that, that you meant that the main reason VGChartz provides weekly numbers is so that users can discuss them on the forums. I may have misunderstood.

That is a large part of it, and it creates a lively community that is interested in it, but VGChartz offers a paid service which includes much more than is seen and discussed here (as implied by the second exerpt I posted). They don't compete with NPD and the like, and they offer a service which is completely different.

"VGChartz offers a professional data service called VGChartz Pro. If you require any custom analysis, preview data, forecasts or any other bespoke service outside of the scope of what is offered publically on VGChartz, or want to know more about the website then please contact us" http://www.vgchartz.com/methodology.php

There was a page with the logos of some high profile users somewhere on this site but I can't seem to find it...




sales2099 on 03 July 2014

Every week makes the forums alive with energy. And I personally enjoy seeing weekly numbers and the sales of my favorite games keep going up.



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

 

fleischr on 03 July 2014
starcraft said:

In recent times, despite VGChartz consistently providing very accurate short and medium term sales estimates for most consoles, the degree of vitriol it attracts for 'guessing,' 'making the numbers up' or for being 'biased' (in favour of any number of consoles!!) has anecdotally increased dramatically. There is some suggestion that this might be a by-product of a new generation starting, which is in some way supported by the majority of vitriol being directed at Xbox One numbers over the last couple of months.


My understanding has always been VGC tracks hardware sold to consumers, and I think a lot of the confusion revolves around shipment numbers. Shipped != sold. The sticky wicket VGChartz has is finding the difference.

If VGC could show comparisons of how much has been sold to consumers and how much has been shipped to retailers, that'd clear up some of the confusion and antagony. The estimated sell-through rate would undoubtedly cause other arguments though too.



I predict NX launches in 2017 - not 2016