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NPD will no longer release monthly hardware/software unit sales

Dave Long

Banned
poppabk said:
But the sales figures have helped cement the 3rd parties don't sell on Wii theory. Given the large off chart sales of Wii games, they actually have a lot to lose, depending on what data subscribers see and pay attention to.
I just think Nintendo doesn't care, because they have their own internal numbers and those are what matter because they're not leaving gaming and they won't ever get pressure from investors to leave gaming either.

The other two? Third parties? They could be battling shareholders if Nintendo keeps on winning.
 
poppabk said:
But the sales figures have helped cement the 3rd parties don't sell on Wii theory. Given the large off chart sales of Wii games, they actually have a lot to lose, depending on what data subscribers see and pay attention to.
Speaking of which we won't get to see how Epic Mickey does.

Oh well.

I wonder how they're going to treat games that have the same name, but are essentially different games? The Call of Duties, for example, usually share a name with the DS version, but are essentially a completely different game.


For Nintendo games, we can use very, very rough estimates from the Nintendo channel, if posters are incredibly desperate. It's better than nothing though.
 
GarthVaderUK said:
OMG, it's like the UK charts from a few years ago, except we at least got the top 40.
And eventually budget and full price games seperated for individual formats (even if the definition of a budget game can sometimes be bizzare).

This news seems like another blow, first the ELPSA (did I spell that right) sales awards here in the UK vanished (you could use them as a rough ltd for games as each medal equaled a certain number of units sold) and now these too. At least the silver lining is no more error 500 on NPD day...not that I'm usually awake when the numbers are released.
 

-PXG-

Member
duckroll said:
Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha 50 bucks a year. Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Sorry.

I know right.

Evilore would be a fool to make people pay to access GAF. Just read threads about Hulu Plus or Giant Bomb. People would skip town as if there was a fucking plague.
 
balladofwindfishes said:
Speaking of which we won't get to see how Epic Mickey does.

Oh well.

I wonder how they're going to treat games that have the same name, but are essentially different games? The Call of Duties, for example, usually share a name with the DS version, but are essentially a completely different game.


For Nintendo games, we can use very, very rough estimates from the Nintendo channel, if posters are incredibly desperate. It's better than nothing though.

If it's anything like Chart-track, they will combine SKUs of anything with the same title.

This includes games like FIFA, Toy Story, Harry Potter, Sonic, Tiger Woods, etc, that release on everything simultaneously yet are vastly different titles across SKUs. So the Wii version of Black Ops will be bunched with the 360/PS3 versions if there is a simultaneous launch.
 

No6

Member
The correct answer is that Sharron Angle teamed up with Nintendo because games on the other systems have a higher tendency to promote:

Evolution (fallout)
"gay agenda" (dante's inferno)
Witchcraft (bayonetta)
Lewd behavior (UNO)
Chimera research (resistance)
Immigration (halo reach)
 

duckroll

Member
-PXG- said:
I know right.

Evilore would be a fool to make people pay to access GAF. Just read threads about Hulu Plus or Giant Bomb. People would skip town as if there was a fucking plague.

I don't think you understand what I was laughing at. :p
 

Jinfash

needs 2 extra inches
Remember the old days when it was NPD time and everyone was so eager to check the numbers, a few would prepare some hilarious GIFs, memes were born, and everyone would just laugh and have a great time?

Those were great times.

And now it's all over. :(
 

Karma

Banned
SonOfABeep said:
it's very possible MS wants to hide the inevitable failure of kinect and it's software.

It is also possible that Move is selling terribly and Sony wants to hide the complete failure.

These kind of post will be very common now.
 

Haunted

Member
16nhqo.jpg



This sucks.
 
Sho_Nuff82 said:
If it's anything like Chart-track, they will combine SKUs of anything with the same title.

This includes games like FIFA, Toy Story, Harry Potter, Sonic, Tiger Woods, etc, that release on everything simultaneously yet are vastly different titles across SKUs. So the Wii version of Black Ops will be bunched with the 360/PS3 versions if there is a simultaneous launch.
Thankfully, Chart-Track do provide a chart with the SKUs uncombined; individual formats in two types, by units sold sold and by value (which is units sold*price).
 

jvm

Gamasutra.
Sho_Nuff82 said:
If it's anything like Chart-track, they will combine SKUs of anything with the same title.

This includes games like FIFA, Toy Story, Harry Potter, Sonic, Tiger Woods, etc, that release on everything simultaneously yet are vastly different titles across SKUs. So the Wii version of Black Ops will be bunched with the 360/PS3 versions if there is a simultaneous launch.
Correct. The sample sheet they sent out (restating June data) does precisely this.
 
I really can't see why people are laying the blame on this decision on just one or two of the big three hardware manufacturers. All three have motives to suppress NPD numbers. Microsoft and Sony would likely rather control what info is released regarding their motion control ventures, and Nintendo's US hardware sales have generally been on the decline outside of a few special cases, which would also make investors uneasy.

However, the above discussion is really quite pointless right now, since none of the hardware manufacturers were likely involved in this decision, and it's probably entirely NPD's responsibility. As the Joystiq article pointed out, NPD tried this same tactic back in 2007; they reneged on it a few days later, but they've been winding down their public info ever since.
 

Gravijah

Member
duckroll said:
The idea that you can pay 50 bucks a year and get access to NPD's complete numbers? It's so retarded I don't know what to say.

I think he meant the 50 bucks from a lot of users going towards a subscription to NPD.
 

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
Dave Long said:
I just think Nintendo doesn't care, because they have their own internal numbers and those are what matter because they're not leaving gaming and they won't ever get pressure from investors to leave gaming either.

The other two? Third parties? They could be battling shareholders if Nintendo keeps on winning.
But a lot of what sales figures help or hinder is perception. The perception that the Wii 3rd party titles sell badly relative to PS3/360 is favored by the limited data we get, because games don't seem to be as front loaded on Wii (when we get the data - Force Unleashed leak a while back for example). It would be nice to think that public perception does not sway the level headed business men at the top who should have all the real data, but who knows. I mean Nintendo (US) released a bunch of charts to disprove the poor third party sales perception so they obviously do care.
 
duckroll said:
The idea that you can pay 50 bucks a year and get access to NPD's complete numbers? It's so retarded I don't know what to say.
Yeah, somehow I'm guessing that NPD might be sort of upset about the idea that folks could pay $50/yr to GAF for the numbers that NPD wants them to pay a few thousand bucks for.
 
duckroll said:
The idea that you can pay 50 bucks a year and get access to NPD's complete numbers? It's so retarded I don't know what to say.
I believe the implication was that there would be a collective group of individuals all paying 50 bucks a year to amass the amount to cover NPD's subscription fee.

But I think we all understand such a thing would never be allowed due to the fact that those subscriptions are for individual use and it would still undermine the NPD even with NDAs involved 'cause companies would simply get their data through the GAF middle man instead of ponying up the full subscription fee themselves.

Hence there is no solution apart from assuring NPD's destruction at the hands of Nielsen.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
LiK said:
no more boring NPD podcast discussions.

Yeah, this. A lot of people have stopped doing sales crap anyway, but this puts the nail in the coffin.

Well, almost. I think IGN buys the numbers as well, but of course they're not allowed to report on them.
 

duckroll

Member
B-Rad Lascelle said:
I believe the implication was that there would be a collective group of individuals all paying 50 bucks a year to amass the amount to cover NPD's subscription fee.

But I think we all understand such a thing would never be allowed due to the fact that those subscriptions are for individual use and it would still undermine the NPD even with NDAs involved 'cause companies would simply get their data through the GAF middle man instead of ponying up the full subscription fee themselves.

Hence there is no solution apart from assuring NPD's destruction at the hands of Nielsen.

Even if NPD allowed it, the idea that it would be easily covered by a 50 buck subscription per year is sort of laughable. Sorry it's so funny it makes me want to laugh again. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
 

Calcaneus

Member
Personally, I don't care as much about sales numbers as I used to, but its always better to have accurate numbers out there so this kinda sucks.

Didn't they try this before, I remember them announcing it then going back to how it normally was.
 

kswiston

Member
duckroll said:
The idea that you can pay 50 bucks a year and get access to NPD's complete numbers? It's so retarded I don't know what to say.

I think it was fairly obvious that it was a joke.
 

Massa

Member
duckroll said:
The idea that you can pay 50 bucks a year and get access to NPD's complete numbers? It's so retarded I don't know what to say.

I thought he meant just the numbers we were getting until now, not the complete data.
 

kswiston

Member
poppabk said:
Although I am now interested how much people pay for the data.

At least $10k a year I believe.

EDIT: I think at one point you could find that info on NPD's website, but now it seems as though you have to contact them for prices. It was $10k/year years ago. May be more now.
 

PSGames

Junior Member
Calcaneus said:
Personally, I don't care as much about sales numbers as I used to, but its always better to have accurate numbers out there so this kinda sucks.

Didn't they try this before, I remember them announcing it then going back to how it normally was.

Yes they did. I think it happened a couple of times right? First Sonycowboy saved the day by posting numbers and then last year I think Evil0re or somebody worked out a deal to post numbers.
 
Gravijah said:
Right, wouldn't everyone need their own subscription?

The idea is 200 people pool $50 a year and one person out of those subscribes at $10,000 a year, then shares the numbers privately with the other 200 without NPD knowing about it. How is this in any way ridiculous or unfeasible?
 

duckroll

Member
vicissitudes said:
The idea is 200 people pool $50 a year and one person out of those subscribes at $10,000 a year, then shares the numbers privately with the other 200 without NPD knowing about it. How is this in any way ridiculous or unfeasible?

Oh, so you're suggesting that we start an illegal sub-forum to pirate data? Is that what you're suggesting?
 
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