• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

NPD asks Analysts not to share data publicly

P

Pooya

Member
jvm said:
Here is the official statement from the NPD Group:

NPD said:
We have heard from our clients and retail partners that NPD information is increasingly out in the public domain without proper attribution, incorrect context and in other ways that is not in the best interest of our clients or the industry. It is our responsibility and right to manage the usage of that information, and our Financial Services clients have agreed to help us and the industry in this regard. There was no "warning" issued at all. We are not freezing out the media as it has been portrayed. Instead, we are looking to work even more directly with the media than we already do to ensure our information and insights are used responsibly.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...



http://www.mcvuk.com/news/43697/NPD-freezes-out-media

US sales tracker NPD has issued a note to analyst Michael Pachter requesting that he stops handing out NPD data to media outlets.

In October of last year the company announced that it was to change the way in which it publishes its monthly video game sales data, omitting most of what had made the reports some of the most revealing in the industry.

NPD instead said it was up to individual platform holder and publishers to govern the publication of sales numbers.

And now it seems that it doesn't want analysts spreading the word, either.

"NPD would appreciate it, if you and your teams refrain from providing any of our Games data directly to the media," the note to Pachter read. "This includes live discussions, e-mails, and/or notes.

"In some cases, you may have to remove the media from your distribution lists. Should the media take issue with this, you can feel free to send them my contact information, and I can connect them with the appropriate NPD representative."

Pachter has confirmed that he will adhere to the request, telling journalists: "Going forward, we are not permitted to send our NPD results note to anyone associated with the media.

"I have been distributing the results note to the media, and will not do so going forward."
Click to expand...

this means we pretty much won't get any numbers anymore
 
P

Patryn

Member
Were they really losing that much business from the release of all those numbers? What is with this new policy of total lockdown?
 
N

[Nintex]

Member
All aboard the ioi train, we just need to pull together with shitty gametrailers and the like to put so much 'confirmed' bullshit on the internets that in the face of dropping stocks EA and the likes will pretty much beg the NPD to release their data.

"Did you see the sales for the new Need for Speed?"

"5 copies in 5 months lol, totally confirmed by numbers I wonder what wallstreet thinks hahaha"
 
F

fadetoblack

Member
I understand why NPD long made the decision to restrict their numbers but I also think it's silly in this day and age when all other industries involved in the proliferation of media regularly release these type of figures publicly (films have box office numbers, music has the charts, and the numbers for most major novel publications are readily available).
 
G

Gowans

Member
What about investors who use analysts as advisors? Seems useless to analysts if they can't share it and whats to stop media using analysts services privately then posting that data?

Seems unenforceable in the end to me if the media want to take that extra step instead of having stuff baby fed to them.
 
N

[Nintex]

Member
Hatty said:
I don't understand, why would they do this?
Click to expand...
Publishers probably asked, now THQ and friends can spread their bullshit shipped numbers without being called out on Atari like inventory dumps.
 
A

Acosta

Member
We should pull out our own numbers "ioi style", when media starts treating NeoGAF as a valid sales source, we could have our own fun.

In other news, fuck NPD, we should cancel the monthly thread and stop giving them any extra publicity. Famistu and Media-Create give away their numbers without so much fuss.
 
C

Culex

Banned
If the media and analysts cannot share or discuss the data, then what's the point of NPD to begin with?
 
N

NHale

Member
infinityBCRT said:
Wait. So Pachter was the source of the leaks to Invisible Walls? Wow. He just earned some cred in my book.
Click to expand...

Of course. He has a show on Gametrailers (Pack Attack) and he's a regular member on Bonus Round, so who else would be leaking the numbers to them?

BroHuffman said:
This sucks. I'm sure leaks will still happen, right?
Click to expand...

Yes but not like the Invisible Walls leak. They had the full report with them and they discussed almost everything even PSP games.
 
D

Deleted member 47027

Unconfirmed Member
Beam said:
WTF. If costumers pay to get the information from NPD, they should be able to do what the fuck they want with it.
Click to expand...

This does not make sense to me.
 
N

Nuclear Muffin

Banned
So Metacritic are going to destroy the HR process for developers and NPD are going to destroy the analysis process for would be investors (leaving the rest of the world, like Square Enix, with nothing but fake VG Chartz numbers)

Lovely!
 
S

Sho_Nuff82

Member
So if I'm a potential investor or a current stockholder, the only information available to me are quarterly shipment reports from the very same companies that want my money?
 
D

DMeisterJ

Banned
So in a year NPD numbers went from usable, but not too useful for anything that isn't a huge game (since we only got the top 10), to barely usable, and not useful at all since we do get is rankings and some numbers whenever some pubs feel like giving them out, to now not being usable at all since we won't even get numbers for the barely usable top 10 combined list.

So... NPD is now dead?
 
G

Guerrillas in the Mist

Member
Not an expert in these things, but surely that means shareholders will flip, as they can't find out about sales any more, except when publishers want to publish sales figures.
 
entremet

entremet

Member
The video game industry continues to be a joke with stuff like this. All other major forms of media have publicly available sales stats--NY Times Bestsellers, Billboard Top 100, Box Office Sales, etc.
 
E

Effect

Member
Beam said:
WTF. If costumers pay to get the information from NPD, they should be able to do what the fuck they want with it.
Click to expand...
Not really. They release the information to those that pay. That doesn't mean the payer can just go around spreading the information to anyone that wants it. It would be like buying a magazine and then posting every single page on the Internet. Yeah you paid for the magazine but that doesn't give you the right to repost it for the world to see. With the NPD I don't think they'd have a problem with someone saying "<insert game> didn't do to well or did below expectations". They just don't want the actual numbers out there. They don't want their work spread around without their permission.

Also these numbers more then likely is having a negative effect of some kind and causing knee jerk reactions in some people.
 
C

confuziz

Banned
Guerrillas in the Mist said:
Not an expert in these things, but surely that means shareholders will flip, as they can't find out about sales any more, except when publishers want to publish sales figures.
Click to expand...

Well, we now know who is going to be rich in a few years..
 
S

Stubo

Member
Is there a page on the NPD site that shows total software/hardware sales data for each year/quarter? Nothing overly specific with regard to developers or platforms, I'd just really appreciate some general data for a paper I'm writing.

This seems to be the hardest industry to get data for, especially since generally speaking it's neglected by academics as far as journals go...
 
S

SolarPowered

Member
We can't get any updates from the mods if that is the case. I guess this is how the show ends.
Clott said:
Why all the secrecy?
Click to expand...
It's mostly because the console industry is pretty self conscious about it's failure and it's inability to grow as a whole. Kinect is just a small rise in a big sea of increasingly red numbers.

I say this because the PC market, the DD market(iOS and android) and Nintendo are the fringe of the industry while they make the most money actually selling games and reaching new audiences.
 
UberTag

UberTag

Member
Effect said:
With the NPD I don't think they'd have a problem with someone say "<insert game> didn't do to well or did below expectations". They just don't want the actual numbers out there.
Click to expand...
Still sounds like revealing NPD data to me if you reveal that a game performed poorly even without actual numbers. We should have to pay for that information.
 
C

Cheesemeister

Member
It's way past time for the video game industry to grow up and treat sales numbers as the marketing tool they are, the same way that other media industries do.
 
M

MetatronM

Unconfirmed Member
Truespeed said:
NPD slowly becoming irrelevant.
Click to expand...
Slowly?




Also, how are analysts supposed to do their jobs without referencing SOME of the data? They won't be able to qualify anything or provide any usable information. At best they'd be able to say something underperformed, but they won't even be able to be clear on how much. Industry analysis was already pretty random, stupid, and subjective, but now they won't even be able to share the information on which they're making these random, stupid, and subjective conclusions. Utterly and completely useless.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Circana (NPD) Hardware Sales for 2022 - NSW 5830k | PS5 5660k | XBS 4480k
Sales-Age 2 3 4 5
230
11K
Woopah replied
Several WayForward Prototypes Appear Online Following Data Leak (Upcoming Shantae game will reportedly remain untouched)
News
3
675
MrTroubleMaker replied
73% of EA’s revenue last quarter came from live service games.
Sales-Age
24
2K
acm2000 replied
Popular gaming platform Roblox has suffered a major data leak
Game Dev
4
957
Fuz replied
Mental health is a problem in the games industry
2 3
131
6K
cash_longfellow replied
Top Bottom