Youtuber attack VGChartz "FULL OF SHIT!!!"

[binary solo]

episteme said:

binary solo said:

episteme said:
I stopped watching the video when he said amazon.com.

He doesn't seem to know what vgchartz is.

Well, let's be honest here, VGC has adjusted every one of the Xb one winning weeks to put PS4 ahead, even if by only a small amount, and Amazon has been a better predictor of the NPD standings than VGC. Every month where raw VGC data has suggested Xb one would outsell PS4 in NPD, and Amazon has suggested the opposite it's always been Amazon that has been right. This is 100% record in favour of Amazon suggests more than mere fluke, and that Amazon is a pretty fair reflection of total national hardware sales. Certainly it doesn't provide absolute numbers, but it gives you a very reliable indication of which console is selling more.

VGC has obviously made some adjustments to its methodology in the USA because right now VGC and amazon seem to be aligning.

That said, LOL at actually going to all the trouble of making a youtube rant about something of no consequence.

Yeah, he doesn't seem to know what vgchartz is. Nobody claims that the new weekly numbers are precise and we know that the numbers will be adjusted later. Ok, it's questionable that they post weekly numbers at all before the NPD numbers are out.

I do think VGC should be more accurate with the relative positions of console sales though. Looking at actual sales trends, like that of Amazon and others, should be a modifier to the raw numbers that result from their sample data. if the raw sampling data calculated out to Xb one selling a few hundred consoles more than PS4, but the majpority of companies that publish real time sales rankings are showing PS4 ahead, then VGC should be adjusting prior to publication to at least put the consoles in the order which the real time rankings suggest. 

After all, the VGC guys themselves constantly reiterate that the estimate for a week has a pretty large standard deviation. So if the ssample data doesn't show a clear winner then real time sales trending data can be legitimate used to turn a 500-1000 lead for that week to a 500-1000 deficit. It still amounts to a statistical tie, but it aligns with the majority of real time sales trends.

IMO VGC started the generation with its USA methodology biased (in a non-judemental way) towards Xb one, because of the massive difference in gen 7 sales. And until real trends could be seen after several months of NPD data it would have been difficult for VGC to make significant changes in its USA methodology to account for a larger market share drop than expected. I think even after the pre-launch PR debacles and 180s most people here were still thinking Xb one would be the lead console in the USA. And many people still do. It really wasn't until Titanfall had little effect on Xb one that it was clear Xb one was seriously failing in its number one territory. And then with the early price cut it was not certain whether that would significantly change things. Now we have some very reliable general trend information which, at least until Halo 5 comes along, should mean VGC and Amazon and NPD remain in relative alignment, albeit VGC abd NPD will always have greater or lesser differences in actual numbers.