• 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.

September 2010 NPD "Results" [Up3: Dead Rising 2, Metroid, Kingdom Hearts Numbers]

Vinci

Danish
a Master Ninja said:
I guess Metroid kinda flopped by Nintendo standards, didn't it?

I don't know. How often do Metroid games even enter the Top 10?

That said, what a shitty thing NPD has done to us.
 

Rhindle

Member
chubigans said:
There is nobody to blame but NPD.

Nobody.
Except that you don't actually know that.

Not that this is a useful discussion. If Microsoft and Nintendo continue to voluntarily disclose tehir hardware sales, I suspect that Sony is going to have to back down eventually.
 

user_nat

THE WORDS! They'll drift away without the _!
Vinci said:
I don't know. How often do Metroid games even enter the Top 10?
MP3 came out in the last couple of days of August so it charted in 2 months:
August 2007:
6. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii) -- 218.1K

September 2007:
7. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii) – 167K

Other M will be much less than that. I suspect it is similar to how Reach=/= Halo 4 and Other M=/= MP4 in the eyes of many. Wii userbase has grown much more than the 360s though..
 
Modern Warfare 2 is always going to have a bigger mass market appeal than Halo.

There's approximately 700k BROS who bought modern warfare 2 at launch because "DUDE IT'S AWESOME" who thought Halo was "TOTALLY GAY LIKE FOR NERDS BRO"

The sci-fi angle is always going to be less appealing to a mass market than modern military fiction.
 

Takao

Banned
BenjaminBirdie said:
Didn't Dissidia crack in the old style? Divided up by platty?

Yep, every major Square Enix PSP game has charted in the top 10 within their month of release.
Too bad The Third Birthday won't. Agito is a toss up, but very unlikely.
 
allan-bh said:
Yes, is Sony.

They don't need to try hard to make a positive statement every month.


If it is ever proven to have been Sony I will stop buying their products. It would be such a fucked up a shortsighted thing for them to do. I dont believe that they would really hurt the industry, and themselves, just because the PS3/PSP aare not doing as well as they would like.
 

GhaleonEB

Member
Rhindle said:
Except that you don't actually know that.

Not that this is a useful discussion. If Microsoft and Nintendo continue to voluntarily disclose tehir hardware sales, I suspect that Sony is going to have to back down eventually.
Who else, then? It's NPD's data and their business model.
 

Kagari

Crystal Bearer
DMeisterJ said:
I remember when I said it would chart and you didn't think it would. :eek:

Er, I don't remember saying it wouldn't chart... pretty sure I thought it would. Damn search for being disabled!
 
SonOfABeep said:
There's approximately 700k BROS who bought modern warfare 2 at launch because "DUDE IT'S AWESOME" who thought Halo was "TOTALLY GAY LIKE FOR NERDS BRO"

The sci-fi angle is always going to be less appealing to a mass market than modern military fiction.
When I picked up Reach the day of launch I overheard someone trying to talk a friend out of buying it. That guy said, and I quote, "Don't buy Reach, just wait for Black Ops. Halo is gay nerd shit."
 

Averon

Member
Why would Sony have NPD stop releasing numbers? What would that gain them? Does Sony even have that kind of leverage over NPD? Why would Sony decide now to stop NPD from releasing numbers but not when the PS3 was selling <100,000 a month?
 
Fuzzy said:
Someone should go back to that month and make the top 10 chart in the new style. In fact, someone should do that for every month for the last 10 years.
I'm too lazy to do this for the rest of the months, but from that month:

MADDEN NFL 10 (PS3/PS2/360/WII/PSP) 1,900,000
WII SPORTS RESORT W/ WII MOTION PLUS (WII) 754,000
BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM (360/PS3) 593,000
DISSIDIA: FINAL FANTASY (PSP) 130,000
WII FIT (WII) 128,000
MARIO KART W/WHEEL (WII) 120,000
WOLFENSTEIN (360/PS3/PC) 106,000
FOSSIL FIGHTERS (NDS) 92,000
MARIO KART DS (NDS)
NEW SUPER MARIO BROS (NDS)

One or both of NCAA 10 or Tiger Woods 10 might have made it in when multiplatform releases were added up, plus there's probably other multiplatform releases there was no data on for the month, but there it is.
 
B-Rad Lascelle said:
plagiarize is resentful at the fact that I speculated KH: BBS finished in the Top 5 when we know it definitively cleared Top 8.
i'm not resentful at your speculation, i'm just resentful at the fact we're having to speculate at all.

i'm resentful at the npd man. KH could have an even more impressive placing than this chart suggests but if it does we don't know.

how do we know old school top 8 for definate out of interest?
 
a Master Ninja said:
When I picked up Reach the day of launch I overheard someone trying to talk a friend out of buying it. That guy said, and I quote, "Don't buy Reach, just wait for Black Ops. Halo is gay nerd shit."

NICE ONE BRAH

ha nerds
 
plagiarize said:
i'm not resentful at your speculation, i'm just resentful at the fact we're having to speculate at all.

i'm resentful at the npd man. KH could have an even more impressive placing than this chart suggests but if it does we don't know.

how do we know top 8 for definate out of interest?
We've been told that NSMB Wii would have made the Top 10 under the old format.
We see from the Top 10 combined totals that Kingdom Hearts: BBS finished ahead of Metroid: Other M and NSMB Wii did not chart.

Hence all 3 make the Top 10 if all SKUs are separated and KH: BBS finishes no lower than 8th.
 

MrDaravon

Member
GhaleonEB said:
Who else, then? It's NPD's data and their business model.

NPD has to make the call sure, but if one of the big three doesn't want their numbers made public, they could potentially raise a stink, try to convince retailers that report data to NPD to stop, etc. The issue here is we don't know if NPD is just being pissy on their own, or if there was some sort of external pressure. The more I hear the more it seems like it was one of the big three.
 
B-Rad Lascelle said:
We've been told that NSMB Wii would have made the Top 10 under the old format.
We see from the Top 10 combined totals that Kingdom Hearts: BBS finished ahead of Metroid: Other M and NSMB Wii did not chart.

Hence all 3 make the Top 10 if all SKUs are separated and KH: BBS finishes no lower than 8th.
thank you. was the NSMB Wii bit from Nintendo's PR or somewhere else? i missed that info.
 
SailorDaravon said:
NPD has to make the call sure, but if one of the big three doesn't want their numbers made public, they could potentially raise a stink, try to convince retailers that report data to NPD to stop, etc. The issue here is we don't know if NPD is just being pissy on their own, or if there was some sort of external pressure. The more I hear the more it seems like it was one of the big three.

Quick, explain what Nintendo, Sony, or MS could possibly use as leverage against NPD or retailers. I think you have the balance of power backwards.
 

chubigans

y'all should be ashamed
SailorDaravon said:
NPD has to make the call sure, but if one of the big three doesn't want their numbers made public, they could potentially raise a stink, try to convince retailers that report data to NPD to stop, etc. The issue here is we don't know if NPD is just being pissy on their own, or if there was some sort of external pressure. The more I hear the more it seems like it was one of the big three.
Except NPD has always had this notion of shutting down more and more public numbers.

We used to get full figures for all games plus extras, then some numbers for the top five, then aggressively shutting down leakers, and now no numbers for anything at all including hardware. NPD has been inching towards this for a while. :(

Quick, explain what Nintendo, Sony, or MS could possibly use as leverage against NPD.
Pretty much.
 

Reilly

Member
Sho_Nuff82 said:
Quick, explain what Nintendo, Sony, or MS could possibly use as leverage against NPD.

They'd pull their subscriptions and would stop referencing NPD in press releases.
 

Fredescu

Member
Sho_Nuff82 said:
Quick, explain what Nintendo, Sony, or MS could possibly use as leverage against NPD.
Perhaps they co-operate in some way with NPD with regards to shipment numbers. Removal of that co-operation could make things more tricky it's worth. I dunno, clutching at straws. NPD have shown that they have little regard for the public interest in these numbers, so if you're implying that NPD removed them on their own, that's pretty likely. I would also say it makes it likely that they would stop releasing them publicly given the slightest nudge. No leverage required.
 

Subitai

Member
What a let down NPD.

Reach numbers are good, but it is officially behind CoD now. Guess Bungie got out just in time.
 
Reilly said:
They'd pull their subscriptions and would stop referencing NPD in press releases.

So, -200k and NPD would still release their reports to everyone else in the industry and half the press. That pretty much sum it up?
 

Redbeard

Banned
Why are videogames different from music/movies?

We get box office numbers and record sales. Why are games ANY different?
 

Reilly

Member
Sho_Nuff82 said:
So, -200k and NPD would still release their reports to everyone else in the industry and half the press. That pretty much sum it up?

Wouldn't part of it be industry perception? What would it tell you about NPD if Sony didn't want to be a part of it? NPD's best intrest is to keep everyone happy. The fact that numbers were pulled the same month Move was released and Sony not releasing any statement tells you all you need to know.
 
Sho_Nuff82 said:
Quick, explain what Nintendo, Sony, or MS could possibly use as leverage against NPD or retailers. I think you have the balance of power backwards.

I'd really love to know what kind of power you think NPD has in this equation.

Retailers can hold some sort of power over manufacturers but in the case of all three companies they have had products that sell themselves and any retailer who doesn't play ball gets left out big time.
 

Redbeard

Banned
Reilly said:
Wouldn't part of it be industry perception? What would it tell you about NPD if Sony didn't want to be a part of it? NPD's best intrest is to keep everyone happy. The fact that numbers were pulled the same month Move was released and Sony not releasing any statement tells you all you need to know.

What does it tell us other than Sony not disclosing their numbers if given the option not to for this particular month?

There have been much worse months for the PS3 and the PS3 apparently had a really good month and managed to outsell the Wii.

Those that are suggesting some kind of conspiracy here are insane.
 
I did some digging on some info of the 2007 NPD Numbers retraction that lasted only a few days, and multiple times they mention the 'approval of the big 3':

NPD Explains the Controversy Over Truncated Data

Earlier today the Internet went a bit nutty when Newsweek columnist N'Gai Croal wrote on his blog that The NPD Group would be scaling back the amount of video game data it typically releases each month.

Croal said that beginning with the October data (expected later this month), NPD will no longer provide hardware sales numbers and will scale back software sales to the Top Five SKUs as opposed to the usual Top Ten. "We'll eventually receive hardware numbers and Top Ten software numbers, but only on a quarterly and annual basis. There are signs that this may only be a temporary pullback, but for now, this is were things stand," he added.

GameDaily BIZ caught up with NPD spokesperson David Riley to find out what's behind this.

"It used to be policy that NPD not provide hardware sales figures," he explained. "Instead, we would leave it up to the industry to release their own numbers. NPD would only become involved with media if they needed us to verify data provided to them by the manufacturer.

"However, in Nov'06, when all three new consoles were on the market for the first time, we discussed internally, then reached out to various reps. on the manufacturer side and asked if it would be acceptable for NPD to 'temporarily' provide hardware install base figures (we had been inundated with media requests and felt it best to consider changing this policy on a temporary basis). There was no push back... it's been a year, so we decided to pull this monthly feed and leave it up to the manufacturer as to whether or not they wanted that sales information released to media. It's really that simple."

Riley told us that so long as the console makers give the greenlight, NPD would have no problem continuing to provide the data to media and other non-clients.


Game Daily-Source

Then when NPD changed it's mind a week later and decided to allow for numbers to still be released, they again mentioned the 'Big 3's approval':

NPD to Continue Providing Hardware Data

Last week The NPD Group confirmed that it would be scaling back its monthly video game sales data, especially with regards to hardware because "it used to be policy that NPD not provide hardware sales figures," spokesperson David Riley said at the time.

The NPD had been waiting to hear back from the console manufacturers, and now Riley has informed GameDaily BIZ that the "Big 3" are in fact on board. Therefore the NPD will continue to provide media with the monthly hardware sales tally and GameDaily BIZ will be able to continue to pass those always interesting numbers onto our readers.

Riley told us the NPD would be providing these figures "indefinitely." October's video game data is expected after market close this Thursday (November 15).

Game Daily-Source


Obviously, 3 years is a long time and things may have changed. But this is the best info it appears we would have that would support the argument that one of the "Big 3" is no longer on board with releasing their sales figures to the media and non-subscribed members of NPD.
 
B-Rad Lascelle said:
So if NPD numbers get leaked elsewhere on the 'Net but GAF talks about them or calls attention to them, GAF gets sued and not the leakers?

Makes sense to me.
As horrible as that is for NPD to try something like that, I find it more disgusting that the powers that be here let them intimidate them with such a weak threat. Isn't this the United States we live in? We should be able to talk about what ever the fuck we want. It's like this place is an arm of some Nazi state. "Do not post certain numbers on this forum damn it! Can't have that! We're just following orders! We do what we're told!" What a joke.
 
Top Bottom