As a note. Internet purchases have been dropping more rappidly in the US then in store purchases.

That could of messed with their numbers if they missed that fact.

You think they'd have guys watching that though.

Too much to read the whole thread but here's my 2 cents:

NPD is the most accurate source we have for American numbers but that's not saying they are accurate. In fact, they are not. They're just making educated guesses based on partial info.

We seen before where it appears NPD has over/under tracked something and then instead of acknowledging it, they alter the current months info to make the ytd more correct but that means you can't trust the month to month sales 100%.

If NPD hasn't altered their formulas to account for the fact that more people than ever are shopping at Walmart then their numbers will be low and just plain wrong. Which they are looking to be.

Problem is there's no transparency when it comes to NPD at all, they could literally just pull numbers from their ass for all we know. Wouldn't surprise me one bit if they occasionally do. I know my government office does all the time. When no one else is tracking who's going to argue?

The only other source is VGChartz, and while I love the site, it's not terribly reliable when it comes to software either. For hardware it is, and we've seen VGC's hardware numbers prevail over NPD's before once actuals are given.

possibly

Yes NPD is so wrong that when leaked data says Lips sold 40k instead of the 350-400k VGC stated, it is the NPD that this site goes with

Please stop trying to shoot them down, they are relied on by the whole of the entertainment industry so much that we rely on NPD data here for greater accuracy.

VGC is good but as it is, NPD has the golden say.

That is what they do.  This has been confirmed by some of their own clients.

Both Toys R Us and Wal-Mart increased their share of video game sales (thanks to Wii and DS) right at the time the NPD stopped tracking them.

Definitly agree with Wall Mart representing a significant percentage of the sales.

But Toys are Us ?

Come on...

What's their market share, 4%, 5% ?

They are definitly way behind Gamestop, Wall Mart, Best Buy and Target...( and those 4 should represent above 75% of the market just by themselves).

And lets not forget that NPD does track the number 1 retailer for video game sales in the US ( which is Gamestop as confirmed by The Source a few months ago when we had a thread about it).

Overall, yes.  But what is their share of Wii and DS sales?  It's much higher than that.   Let's look at what happens when NPD undertracks Wii by 15% due to lack of reporting from Wal-Mart and TrU.

Actual sales = 800k.
NPD reports = 800k - 15% = 680k.

Wall Mart + Toys Are Us together probably represent like 30-35% marketshare.

If NPD was off total by 15%, considering how they have reliable numbers for the rest of the market it would mean those 15% off came from estimating what sold at Wall Mart and Toys Are Us.

That would mean their estimates would have to be off by 50% for those two.......

More than doubtfulll especially during a period where nothing significant came to alter the Wii selling pattern of the previous months....

Whether NPD is accurate or not, that's the most widely covered source we have in the US. Oh, and the numbers on this site are always adjusted to be more in line with NPD after all the bitching and complaining quiets down.