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Forums - Sales - Wall Street analysts comments on the NPD v VGChartz debate

PhatLaosBoi on 19 June 2008

This site is now seen as a thorn on NPD's side and so be it. Great blogs and gaming sites such as IGN, Kotaku, Joystiq, GameTrailers, etc. have all referenced VGChartz in some form or another. That, in itself, speaks volume to what ioi has done for this site and for the gaming community. I may not have as many post counts as the majority of the members on this site but I have been lurking since the site's inception.

People hate because they're jealous and NPD ought to be jealous of the type of services this site provides.

Props.



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celine on 19 June 2008

Good article altought nothing that I didn't know already.
VGC is like Wii, it is a disruptive product/service.



 “In the entertainment business, there are only heaven and hell, and nothing in between and as soon as our customers bore of our products, we will crash.”  Hiroshi Yamauchi

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TheBigFatJ on 19 June 2008
shams said:

@meister: I hope you come here and read this - you are a complete douche.

Firstly - even if this was the case - so what? Its publicly available data, and like you say - this IS the web 2.0 age. Its all about databases, communities. It was always inevitable that someone WAS going to do this - and its your own fault (and pure greed) for NPD not doing this originally - as a FREE public service.

Secondly - even if this information is being used, the accuracy of the data has improved markedly over the last few years - and is starting to make NPD look bad. Who is it that checks YOUR figures to make sure NPD doesn't make a mistake - or even worse - intentionally cook the books? That's right - no one. Have to wonder if anyone has tried to slip you a few notes over the past, to make their figures look just that little bigger.

There is no question that VG uses figures beyond the ones you mention, and is continuously doing deals to acquire additional figures from new retailers.

Just as there is no doubt that VG will continue to grow in accuracy, popularity - and the relevance of NPD will continue to wane. Its only going to take one major news outlet to start quoting VG weekly figures - and NPD will virtually be forgotten.

...

I'm looking forward to the continued degradation of your client base, and the day that NPD is forced to change their model - or go out of business.

In the meantime, you might want to drop the personal slanderous comments - it doesn't reflect well on you or NPD - or you might just end up with a defamation lawsuit in your face some time.

Shams: I know your an op here, and I know that you love the site, but personal insults will never help your (VGChartz') case.  I'm not chastising you, I'm just stating the obvious.  This story is a reasonably big opportunity for VGC and the response of the community and especially official members of VGC is critical.

Animosity toward VGC from NPD looks bad and that door goes both ways.  Anger and feelings aside, I don't think anyone here really wants NPD to go out of business -- they just want NPD to improve their services and business model so that they can "compete" in a market with entities like VGC. 

Even if VGC inexplicably went away tomorrow, another site like it would eventually rise.  It is inevitable.



king_of_the_castle on 19 June 2008

Wow, that's awesome, keep up the good work.



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dallas on 19 June 2008
ioi said:

Well without making the situation worse, the reason VGC and NPD aren't, it seems, able to get on is because NPD hate our very existence and are trying to do everything possible (meister is from NPD) to discredit us with the same old tired and inaccurate lies time after time.

The animosity is definitely one-way and is for one reason - because we are doing a good job and they see us as competition, despite the fact we are neither trying nor succeeding in competing directly - we offer a very different service as the writer of this article perfectly sums up and the guys commenting miss as always.

 

 Ioi, first of all I would like to thank you for your comments on this situation.  It definitely helps when you and the mods can give some insight as to why we are seeing such a hubub in the various media floating around.  Next, I'm not really sure if the people on this website really care whether meister is correct or not; nobody gives a flip about the methodology........as long as the sales numbers given are accurate and I think that you all are doing a good job with the accuracy side of things as well as providing a top-notch community for gamers worldwide.  Thanks. 



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TheBigFatJ on 19 June 2008
dallas said:
ioi said:

Well without making the situation worse, the reason VGC and NPD aren't, it seems, able to get on is because NPD hate our very existence and are trying to do everything possible (meister is from NPD) to discredit us with the same old tired and inaccurate lies time after time.

The animosity is definitely one-way and is for one reason - because we are doing a good job and they see us as competition, despite the fact we are neither trying nor succeeding in competing directly - we offer a very different service as the writer of this article perfectly sums up and the guys commenting miss as always.

 

Ioi, first of all I would like to thank you for your comments on this situation. It definitely helps when you and the mods can give some insight as to why we are seeing such a hubub in the various media floating around. Next, I'm not really sure if the people on this website really care whether meister is correct or not; nobody gives a flip about the methodology........as long as the sales numbers given are accurate and I think that you all are doing a good job with the accuracy side of things as well as providing a top-notch community for gamers worldwide. Thanks.

You or I may not care all that much about the methodology, but people who need to know that the sales data is reasonably accurate and that best practices are taken when getting the sales data (or at least practices they understand) need to understand VGC's methodology.  It's very important to have it in the clear, which is why the NPD would want to cast some doubt about VGC's methods.

 



dallas on 19 June 2008
TheBigFatJ said:
dallas said:
ioi said:

Well without making the situation worse, the reason VGC and NPD aren't, it seems, able to get on is because NPD hate our very existence and are trying to do everything possible (meister is from NPD) to discredit us with the same old tired and inaccurate lies time after time.

The animosity is definitely one-way and is for one reason - because we are doing a good job and they see us as competition, despite the fact we are neither trying nor succeeding in competing directly - we offer a very different service as the writer of this article perfectly sums up and the guys commenting miss as always.

 

Ioi, first of all I would like to thank you for your comments on this situation. It definitely helps when you and the mods can give some insight as to why we are seeing such a hubub in the various media floating around. Next, I'm not really sure if the people on this website really care whether meister is correct or not; nobody gives a flip about the methodology........as long as the sales numbers given are accurate and I think that you all are doing a good job with the accuracy side of things as well as providing a top-notch community for gamers worldwide. Thanks.

You or I may not care all that much about the methodology, but people who need to know that the sales data is reasonably accurate and that best practices are taken when getting the sales data (or at least practices they understand) need to understand VGC's methodology.  It's very important to have it in the clear, which is why the NPD would want to cast some doubt about VGC's methods.

 

So, if the NPD people are saying that VGCHARTZ is simply copying the NPD's sales reports, and (from what you say) that this makes VGCHARTZ information look doubtful, this would imply that the NPDs information is false as well.  Either way, I think that the majority of the media is actually siding with us, they have a positive view of VGCHARTZ and aren't trying to spread the NPD's view about this, which is a good thing.

 

-Dallas

 



Kasz216 on 19 June 2008
dallas said:
TheBigFatJ said:
dallas said:
ioi said:

Well without making the situation worse, the reason VGC and NPD aren't, it seems, able to get on is because NPD hate our very existence and are trying to do everything possible (meister is from NPD) to discredit us with the same old tired and inaccurate lies time after time.

The animosity is definitely one-way and is for one reason - because we are doing a good job and they see us as competition, despite the fact we are neither trying nor succeeding in competing directly - we offer a very different service as the writer of this article perfectly sums up and the guys commenting miss as always.

 

Ioi, first of all I would like to thank you for your comments on this situation. It definitely helps when you and the mods can give some insight as to why we are seeing such a hubub in the various media floating around. Next, I'm not really sure if the people on this website really care whether meister is correct or not; nobody gives a flip about the methodology........as long as the sales numbers given are accurate and I think that you all are doing a good job with the accuracy side of things as well as providing a top-notch community for gamers worldwide. Thanks.

You or I may not care all that much about the methodology, but people who need to know that the sales data is reasonably accurate and that best practices are taken when getting the sales data (or at least practices they understand) need to understand VGC's methodology. It's very important to have it in the clear, which is why the NPD would want to cast some doubt about VGC's methods.

 

So, if the NPD people are saying that VGCHARTZ is simply copying the NPD's sales reports, and (from what you say) that this makes VGCHARTZ information look doubtful, this would imply that the NPDs information is false as well. Either way, I think that the majority of the media is actually siding with us, they have a positive view of VGCHARTZ and aren't trying to spread the NPD's view about this, which is a good thing.

 

-Dallas

 

Actually I think the first part was "Copying us" and since they realized their was no way that ioi actually was copying them and was getting about the same numbers organically they've since called in a sociopath, making numbers up etc...

When that doesn't work i'd expect a frivelous lawsuit.

 



Kenology on 19 June 2008

PS3 Fanboy givin' VGChartz some love as well.



redspear on 19 June 2008

All this NPD is obsolete stuff is BS. I am a big fan of VGChartz and all I have to say is even if VGChartz had the same accuracy NPD would not be obsolete for several reasons.

1. NPD tracks a whole range of products not just videogames.
2. NPD more than likely provides localized data that you wouldn't find on this site not just a number. While there is other specialized data here the data provided by NPD would be different.

I am sure NPD is not happy with this site as it does weaken certain key aspects of their business even if slightly less accurate this site by no means destroys NPD's business model.