Why are these guys so protective of sales figures becoming public knowledge?
We know how much box office movies bring in & how many ratings a TV show brings in. Why not the same for something as benign as game sales?
I love Japan's philosophy on this. Put your money where your mouth is. No hype and no BS. The numbers speak for themselves and all get to see good or bad. No hoodwinking of the public and no woolpulls over people's eyes. Let's see results. I like that attitude.
This is not government secrets I'm sorry. This ain't classified national security information here. It's just game sales for God's sakes! Protecting the egos of the companies perhaps?
Sell to retailers means 'sheets' to me. Stuff in warehouses means 'dick bupkus' to me (like that pun?).
The ONLY NUMBER THAT *EVER* MATTERED is SELL THROUGH: The stuff in the buyer/user's hands. The customers. 10 million sold or shipped by Microsoft in January? STILL at 9 million something in April. That stuff is still on the shelves, on the docks, and in the warehouses. How many people HAVE them and are PLAYING them? NOT STOCKING them. PLAYING them. OWNING them. USING them.
And people wonder why I dig Nintendo so much. I like straight shooters in all facets of life. Keep it real and not Dave Chappelle's Keep It Real when Keepin' It Real Goes Wrong but keep it REAL. Factual. Actual. Legit. Is that so hard?
I trust this site over Next Gen Wars because it seems you pay closer attention to sell-through numbers by digging through archives of facts instead of taking companies' words for it.
When the hard figures aren't there you use educated market reading to fill in the gaps to come to a reasonable estimate. I find you are the closest games sales tracker online & that's why I joined up on the forum and put this site on my favorites.
Until these commerce data companies get off their high horses you guys will be the go-to team. I guess it really comes down to money. These guys want to be the middleman of sales tracking and selling the results is better than giving it away. They're not like media who want the story exposed for the public good; they want control over information flow so as to lock people into buying from them. Pathetic.
Hopefully one day you guys will get as big as Japan's Media Create and you can report worldwide sales like they do down to the letter. I'm rooting for you! Sales charts help you focus and make smarter decisions for purchasing. Very needed.
John Lucas
Words from the Official VGChartz Idiot
WE ARE THE NATION...OF DOMINATION!
