EA & Activision Dismiss NPD Data

[Hungry Donner]

It seems silly to me to publish one set of numbers on a monthly basis and the other on a quarterly basis. If you really want to do this then the monthly numbers should either be released as raw data (with analysis kept to the more thoroughly quarterly reports) or they should make sure that they keep any conclusions they draw firmly within the context of the data. To suggest that sales are slipping when you are ignoring and important segment of the sales doesn't make sense, instead say that the sales of physical games are slipping and perhaps add that information on digital sales will be available in April (or whenever).

 

[Nikolaz72]

Holy shit the devil and his son got something right for a change.

I remember when they said Black ops out sold Warcraft, star craft, and everything else.

Who is the devil and who is the son? . Is the son the lesser evil. . . Or the risktaking of the two. Or is it the youngest?

OT: Digital sales change a lot from month to month aswell. A quarter is not nearly enough to account for the changes, and if they only take retail sales its gonna be misleading and can be incorrect.

 

[GeorgW]

The real problem with the NPD is that it only covers North America (I think). That's missing a HUGE market.

 

[TheGuy(wantstobe)]

In this case, it's hard not to agree with the publishers. Digital sales (not to mention online subscriptions for games like World of Warcraft) are certainly a major part of today's videogame marketplace. Case in point: Electronic Arts' digital sales reported that it expects its yearly digital revenues to climb to a to a total of $750 million by March 31st. From the sound of things, it seems like NPD is going to have to change its reporting methods if it wants to continue being taken seriously.

Or, and I'm just spitballin' here, we could take it as it has been advertised: Retail.

Nielsen's TV ratings haven't become irrelevant due to DVD sales or iTunes. Nor has their measurement of CD/"record" sales. They have expanded, but Nielsen hardly has felt the need to integrate such things directly into their TV ratings index.

Don't take me as defending NPD. They have problems, including exclusions that could potentially skew results within retail. But it's kind of silly to point out that they're not counting digital downloads in reports with no DD context.

And since they've been tracking online data for 2-3 years now, it might be a little pointless to say they have to get with the times.

Nielsen actually adapted to the change in technology by also including dvr in their ratings reports for tv. This is what npd should be doing as otherwise it's not a complete picture and ultimately worthless.

 

[DTWolfwood]

what is it so hard for the NPD to just make the digital portion monthly as well instead of quarterly?

They just need to charge more money for the reports its not like the companies that get them can't afford a mild price hike.

 

[Something Amyss]

Nielsen actually adapted to the change in technology by also including dvr in their ratings reports for tv. This is what npd should be doing as otherwise it's not a complete picture and ultimately worthless.

It's not analogous. iTunes is equivalent to digital sales and video, not DVR. At best, you could argue a similarlity to adding e-tailers, which NPD has done.

Nor is it completely worthless, because retail figures are there for retail purposes. I know most people use NPD as material for fanboy "size" fights and the like, but there is actually quite a bit of use in tracking retail sales.

You know, for the people the NPD numbers are intended for.

In the end, it's all silly. "It's unfair you print the numbers we use as context to both measure success and justify terminations in a fashion that may not currently benefit us!"

It also has the problem that it alters the way things are reported and relies more on self-reporting. But let's deal with one issue at a time.

 

[Tom Phoenix]

"Using NPD data for video game sales is like measuring music sales and ignoring something called iTunes," said EA's Tiffany Steckler. "We see NPD's data as a misrepresentation of the entire industry."

This is just gold. I love the fallacy of comparing video games to music, as if the two are even remotely comparable.

What Miss Steckler here seems to be missing (or, more likely, is intentionally hiding) is that, unlike the music industry, the video game industry makes the lion's share of its profits through retail. So if retail sales are down, chances are that digital sales are not going to be able to compensate for that negative trend.

If these figures were positive, EA and Activision wouldn't be complaining. The fact that they are means that they are just trying to conceal the fact that the industry is not doing well.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

"Using NPD data for video game sales is like measuring music sales and ignoring something called iTunes," said EA's Tiffany Steckler. "We see NPD's data as a misrepresentation of the entire industry."

This is just gold. I love the fallacy of comparing video games to music, as if the two are even remotely comparable.

What Miss Steckler here seems to be missing (or, more likely, is intentionally hiding) is that, unlike the music industry, the video game industry makes the lion's share of its profits through retail. So if retail sales are down, chances are that digital sales are not going to be able to compensate for that negative trend.

If these figures were positive, EA and Activision wouldn't be complaining. The fact that they are means that they are just trying to conceal the fact that the industry is not doing well.

And I loathe the fallacy that videogames are somehow completely different from music and movies for -- well, no reason really. The higher cost compared to music doesn't somehow make it a completely different class of product, nor does the lack of additional revenue sources like theatrical releases or live concerts make them incomparable. Afterall, the Honda Civic is just as much a car as the Lambourgini Murcielago, despite the ridiculous cost gap between the two, and a coupe is still just as much a car as a sedan is, despite the fact that the coupe lacks the potential revenue source of being sold to a taxi company.

Edit: Also, you have a very console centric view point. DD is at least as big as retail with PC games.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Electronic Arts and Activision have stated that NPD's reports are misleading and "potentially irrelevant."

Pot. Kettle. Ethnic.

Some prefer being called Appliance-Americans.

 

[archabaddon]

Dear Mike Thompson,

If you want to be a better writer, explain the subject of your article before you expound upon it. It's not that I can't Google whatever NPD is, but it's just common courtesy for a writer to explain the subject of an article in the outset of said article. Assuming every reader will be a subject matter expert already is a bit presumptuous.

Regards,
~ Me