By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
Darth Tigris on 12 February 2012
Edit Thread
DirtyP2002 said:
kowenicki said:
ioi said:
drkohler said:
D-Joe said:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/40227/Analyst_questions_validity_of_unusual_January_NPD_results.php
The group confirmed to Gamasutra, however, that Wal-Mart POS data was not included in the January report, and thus did not affect this month's software sales figures.

so NPD starting include Wal-Mart this month?

NPD has always estimated Wal-mart numbers (with historic data, other means, and current trends). Still, the numbers are within 5% of exact sales, don't expect any magic additions to them.

I've heard of cases where NPD have a game at 50k while the publisher has confirmed sell-through of 200k so their tracking really isn't as accurate (especially at the lower end) as people like to think. Clearly the addition of Walmart will help this considerably.

On topic, I also find these figures very hard to digest - the market is down surely but both for December and January NPD have showed data that is 40%+ down on previous years which makes little sense when compared to other markets like the UK and when compared to all of the months prior to December. It does come across as though NPD have changed their tracking methods or are making adjustments for something. For Pachter to publicly question it then that should certainly raise some serious doubts.

We certainly have no intention of making and adjustments to our data for January.

Its all a bit mysterious but the end of March numbers from the manufacturers will show for sure what the real situiation is.  If NPD are to be believed then shipments will be next to nothing.  Supply would be more than enough already.


this. If MS ships more than 600k this quarter, all the "overshipped!!" arguements were just wrong

But they'll continue.  They'll always continue.  People are creating their own truth ...