Well. This is an interesting thread.

What I'll say is that the data posted in this thread is proprietary in the sense that NPD's clients pay nearly $10,000 each month just to have access to them. Clients are not allowed to 'leak' that data as per the agreement they have with NPD.

If someone, such as Librarian13579, wishes to post NPD data publicly then they are doing so with the risk that the NPD Group could investigate and find them in breach of contract. This could result in NPD suspending their agreement with the client who leaked the data and could also lead to Librarian13579 losing their job.

I don't think some of you understand how serious these situations can be. There is a legitimate reason why Librarian13579 doesn't want these numbers all over the internet, especially when it can lead to the NPD Group investigating further. I've seen this happen in the past where leakers will try to obfuscate and slow the spread of numbers so that the NPD Group doesn't catch on. Creamsugar being one example. People like Ethomaz, who have displayed this sort of behaviour before, do not help by spreading the numbers far and wide as soon as they are leaked.

That being said, I don't personally think anyone should risk their job by posting NPD numbers publicly, especially when under NDA. Given the events that have transpired today I wouldn't expect Librarian13579 to post numbers again in the future. I'm conscious that the community here is interested in the numbers but everyone needs to understand exactly what's at risk to leakers, why they do it and what the potential consequences are.

Personally I would love NPD to be more open and share numbers themselves, but that won't happen due to various agreements between NPD and retailers / publishers. In the meantime the general public has to rely on leaks, but that won't happen if leakers can't do so safely. The NPD Group has long tried to crack down on leaks coming from places like NeoGAF with high traffic. This is because leaks posted to NeoGAF spread quickly across the internet and become common knowledge across many. So the NPD Group is more likely to exercise its legal right to clamp down on leaks if they get posted everywhere. 

But anyway, I've already said I don't think people should leak data. But I'm just giving you all an explanation about those that do. 

I find it hard to believe someone like librarian would risk losing his job over this. It's not worth it just so we get numbers. I actually hope you stop for your sake. Obviously you enjoy the attention you get but it just ain't worth it.

If you have any sense, you would just message the mods and we can quickly discuss a mods 'prediction' knowing full well it's the results. You're doing these leaks all wrong.

Why aren't leakers simply sending a PM to a third party and let them post the numbers. How could NPD possibly trace it back then?

Every single leaker of NPD data since the late 90's has taken a risk to post numbers. Why do you think creamsugar put out pie charts instead of actual numbers? Why do you think Aquamarine used email tags instead of posting numbers directly? 

It actually got to a point, back in 2006, where the NPD Group sent a cease and desist to NeoGAF demanding that they stop posting leaked NPD numbers on their forum. That's why the leakers I mentioned take the precautions they do and it's why Librarian113579 is saying the same. 

But I do agree that it's not worth the risk. Like I said, I don't condone the leaking of NPD data. I just know about the history of NPD leaks and want to fill you all in so you can understand the situation better. 

I think it's more a case of the exact numbers being posted on NeoGAF or other large websites with high traffic. I think that's why a lot of the NPD leaks in the last year have been posted on Chartz first. 

But but he left voluntarily.

Agreed they should just send it to you as the thread owner, or someone from Europe / asia so its hard to track them down.

Who knew leaking video game numbers would be so... intense? In Japan, it's not even an issue. Here? You may as well be Edward Snowden. Just having access to the numbers makes you a dead man.

In Japan the companies release the numbers themselves. Media Create, Famitsu and Dengeki release the lists to the public every Thursday. Nothing is leaked.

The reason that the numbers in Japan are distributed publicly by the companies themselves is because there is competition between all of them for clients. The NPD Group operates a monopoly in the U.S. and also has retailer and publisher pressure which keeps the numbers private. 

Hehe. Yeah I know. I just mean giving data to the public isn't an issue for companies there. Here, it's tigher than classified information. From the way this thread is going, I wouldn't even want to be exposed to them.

No X1 numbers?