NPD to STOP reporting monthly hardware sales (Starting right NOW) :(

[theRepublic]

mike_intellivision said:

It is just amazing to me how differently the tracking services operate in Japan and Europe compared to NPD.  Or how little data the videogame industry wants to give out compared to every other form of entertainment it says it competes against. If you want to be taken seriously, you need numbers (TV, radio, movies) or at least bigger lists (books, music).

I also wonder, given that NPD does not include data from Wal-Mart or Toys R Us (or did not the last time we had this type of discussion), how accurate those numbers really are. I say this because if you go to either of those stores, they generally have much larger displays for Nintendo products than other manufacturers -- and most of the disagreement between VGC and NPD seemed to center around supposed Nintendo overestimation.

This shows goes to show the immaturity of the industry.  It also may be another sign that another crash may soon be coming.

 

Mike from Morgantown

If I remember their last statement on this issue correctly, NPD does not track Walmart or Toys R Us directly, but they try and estimate those sales though their consumer surveys.

Unfortunately for them, consumer surveys are notoriously unreliable.