Every month the NPD, which claim to be the leading provider in reliable and comprehensive consumer and retail information for a wide range of industries including gaming, release monthly data for both software and hardware sales for all three consoles.
The group is properly organized and well respected in the gaming industry, respect we believe is well deserved. However we questioned whether the company's figures were accurate since it failed to collect some extremely important data, example DLC and MMO sales data. They conceded that DLC and MMO figures were unaccounted for, however, according to the group, this failure is not there fault but companies in the industry that keep an extremely tight lead on the information.
GamesThirst interviewed David Riley of the NPD, and the sheer amount of information he gave, shed some light on the situation, and a little secret of the industry.
Good afternoon David, thanks for responding.
No, it's my pleasure, I'm happy to be of any assistance.
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We heard that your company [NPD] don't cover DLC figures in your monthly software sales data, is that true?
That's correct, we don't cover DLC, or etailers like amazon, and we don't cover Walmart sales either, but that was Walmart's decision, they pulled out years ago, in fact no one does. Our monthly sales data only include jewel cases sales if you want to put it that way, places like GameStop, we only release hard sales. But we have pretty darn solid data. No one disputes our figures, we collaborate with other firms both international and domestic to bring accurate information, firms from Canada and Australia. But America holds 45% of the market share, so when there's a major shift in consumer behavior then we'll definitely start covering online sales. When Halo stops selling hard copies and move online, then we'll cover online sales, but although that's where it's headed, we're still at least 10 years off.
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We understand, but since you don't account for DLC, etailers, and Walmart sales, do you think your monthly sales data is accurate, or is it misguided, since a good portion of the market is not accounted for?
Yes, millions of dollars go unaccounted for but it's not our fault - the companies keep a very tight lead on DLC and other online sales information. Reggie of Nintendo said "We don't give out that information." EA said the same thing - millions of dollars were made through Fallout 3's DLC but there's no way to track it. Fallout made good money, they've released a lot of DLC for that game, but we don't pretend to track it, because of how tight the companies keep the numbers. This is not NPD's shortcomings, it is the industry's shortcomings - we don't sugar-coat anything. DLC is on the rise, if they were not making money from it then they would not continue, estimates are between $2-$3 billion on DLC and other online content every year and growing, but it's not accounted for.
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So are the guidelines accurate, do we know for a fact that the industry was down year-on-year, I mean.... so much data gets neglected?
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This is a mixed question, is it accurate? Well the industry hasn't been down from since 2001 when the transition to PS2 was taking place. we've seen steady growth since then. But the recession affected not only the gaming industry but all business sectors suffered. The gaming industry is not recession proof, and so now you have companies feeling the effects. We work closely with the FTC and the National Retail Federation not only for games but in other industries. Sales are down all over the [gaming] industry. I mean, EA just closed Pandemic, Microsoft laid-off eight hundred workers, the companies are feeling it. I live in New York, and I know New York is like a different world altogether but you walk into a GameStop and all they're saying is sales are down. It has nothing to do with data. People are starting to spend more money online - they can't afford to buy a game for $60 so they get cheaper DLC. But the industry is not tanking, I mean if you marry the data we provide at retail with online sales, you'll get a good picture. Take the Wii for example, last year the sales were ridiculous, but now, I think we're back to reality. Nintendo is doing good, Sony is doing good and Microsoft is doing good.
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O.K. Thank you for your time David, this information will definitely influence our report.
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Oh it's no problem, glad I was able to help.
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Some interesting insight there.
Discuss
Well Wal-mart, Etailers and DLC are deffo a big share of sales, especially in US..
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| ithis said: What's with the "PS3 vs Xbox 360" title? I know it's theirs but still? |
Yeah I didn't get it either but decided to with anyway.
Seems like they are not the problem. Companies like Walmart dont want to give their figures away. The industrie knows, the outside world just doesnt know. Not much that npd can do about it.
What I dont get is how we can explain the huge spike in sales when walmart gave the 100 dollar gift card with a arcade. Since nobody has their sales record, how can we know?
| Metsadah said: Seems like they are not the problem. Companies like Walmart dont want to give their figures away. The industrie knows, the outside world just doesnt know. Not much that npd can do about it. What I dont get is how we can explain the huge spike in sales when walmart gave the 100 dollar gift card with a arcade. Since nobody has their sales record, how can we know? |
ioi knows.
I know Wii isn't mentioned in the Op but if anything that would be the console most affected by the decision not to include wal-mart. I remember hearing Reggie specifically saying in an interview that Wal-Mart was Nintendo's biggest buyer.
Bet between Slimbeast and Arius Dion about Wii sales 2009:
If the Wii sells less than 20 million in 2009 (as defined by VGC sales between week ending 3d Jan 2009 to week ending 4th Jan 2010) Slimebeast wins and get to control Arius Dion's sig for 1 month.
If the Wii sells more than 20 million in 2009 (as defined above) Arius Dion wins and gets to control Slimebeast's sig for 1 month.
PS3 Vs 360 ? or NPD Vs sales Numbers ?
From what i have seen , the second one fits the title better . :)
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It is companies like Valve with Steam and its sales that interest me.
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well i hate to be defending NPD here but they were very straight forward and didn't try to pretend they were something they weren't. They can't get this info because the companies won't provide it, it's not really their fault anyway.
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