NPD to Withhold Hardware Sales Numbers From the Public

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/06/npd-to-withhold-hardware-sales-numbers-from-media/N

NPD is not going to show us how much consoles sell each month and only show how much the top five games sell. Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo are allowed to release their data but that would only happen if it makes them look good. Luckily ...we here at gamespot have determined that sales don't matter and that games are the key to winning a console war.

Luckily ...we here at gamespot have determined that sales don't matter and that games are the key to winning a console war.

redandblack23

What? :lol:

Anarchy was the choice in that thread. Not games.Casey's attempt to control the debate failed.

Cows will be holding street parties over this news :P

Now they can just use whatever figures take their fancy (ie keep using VGChartz weekly sales! lol)

Great. Now people will look at crappy sites like VGchartz for official numbers.Kratos_OMEGA

That's what I'm afraid of. I remember seeing at one point that VGchartz was, at a maximum, off by something like 26% in their estimates (usually falling in the 10% range). I could have my numbers wrong, so maybe someone can back me up on them.

Cows will be holding street parties over this news :P

Now they can just use whatever figures take their fancy (ie keep using VGChartz weekly sales! lol)

blue_hazy_basic

i can see them doing that.

[QUOTE="Kratos_OMEGA"]Great. Now people will look at crappy sites like VGchartz for official numbers.aliasfreak

That's what I'm afraid of. I remember seeing at one point that VGchartz was, at a maximum, off by something like 26% in their estimates (usually falling in the 10% range). I could have my numbers wrong, so maybe someone can back me up on them.

Now we don't get to see the conclusion in the fight between GBA and PS3. :cry:Son_of_Some

Yeah right! Not only will this news be leaked anyway, but Nintendo and Microsoft won't keep there mouths shut. We'll get that news from somebody eventually. People can't keep quiet. It'll either be a girl that tells us, or insider fanboys.:)

Those 2 will blab for the rest of the year about how many consoles they move.

Sony willcontinue todo what they do best, and be the liar liar pants on fire losers that they are.

Trust me on this one, as soon as Sony starts talking big numbers, Microsoft and Nintendo will put them in there place!

Now we don't get to see the conclusion in the fight between GBA and PS3. :cry:Son_of_Some

Well considering a Price drop for the 80gb PS3 and 40GB PS3 introduced and PS3 out sold xbox 360 in UK this past month even thow Halo 3 was released...now we wont get to see the conclusion between xbox 360 and PS3 here in north america :(

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/06/npd-to-withhold-hardware-sales-numbers-from-media/N

NPD is not going to show us how much consoles sell each month and only show how much the top five games sell. Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo are allowed to release their data but that would only happen if it makes them look good. Luckily ...we here at gamespot have determined that sales don't matter and that games are the key to winning a console war.

redandblack23

Only if it makes them look good? Technically, they HAVE to release that information as part of their quarterly/annual financials.

So we won't get the monthly numbers, but we will still get regular updates on console sales.

Wonder why NPD is doing this?

Cows will be holding street parties over this news :P

Now they can just use whatever figures take their fancy (ie keep using VGChartz weekly sales! lol)

blue_hazy_basic

No they won't. This is bad news for cows. Just when the PS3 drops to $399 and starts a new marketing push NPD cuts off their sales info. How are cows, or any of us, supposed to know if this is helping or not? Is MS going to be in trouble of slipping into third place, or is the PS3 doomed to lose money and support?

So the cows are getting screwed over if you ask me.

Internet will get ahold of the data still. I'm not worried.

Good Job Cows! Congrats!DaysAirlines

[QUOTE="redandblack23"]

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/06/npd-to-withhold-hardware-sales-numbers-from-media/N

NPD is not going to show us how much consoles sell each month and only show how much the top five games sell. Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo are allowed to release their data but that would only happen if it makes them look good. Luckily ...we here at gamespot have determined that sales don't matter and that games are the key to winning a console war.

ZIMdoom

Only if it makes them look good? Technically, they HAVE to release that information as part of their quarterly/annual financials.

So we won't get the monthly numbers, but we will still get regular updates on console sales.

Wonder why NPD is doing this?

Or you'll get regular updates on consoles shipped, not sold at retail. MS was already doing that and Sony I'm sure is going to do that too with this new $399 sku. Nintendo can basically say shipped or sold at retail because it basically sells out the moment it hits the store.

This will be funny if Sony puts out numbers like 10-15 million sold (shipped) by the end of March 08. Who will dispute them with NPD not saying anything.

[QUOTE="redandblack23"]

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/06/npd-to-withhold-hardware-sales-numbers-from-media/N

NPD is not going to show us how much consoles sell each month and only show how much the top five games sell. Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo are allowed to release their data but that would only happen if it makes them look good. Luckily ...we here at gamespot have determined that sales don't matter and that games are the key to winning a console war.

ZIMdoom

Only if it makes them look good? Technically, they HAVE to release that information as part of their quarterly/annual financials.

So we won't get the monthly numbers, but we will still get regular updates on console sales.

Wonder why NPD is doing this?

Well.. only people (media) who pay get the numbers now. So I'd say they do it to make more money. Not a bad idea considering that a LOT of people are interested in these numbers nowadays.

i wonder if sony pressured them, or if it's just a new internal policy.3picuri3

yeah...i also heard sony caused the black plague :roll:

[QUOTE="blue_hazy_basic"]

Cows will be holding street parties over this news :P

Now they can just use whatever figures take their fancy (ie keep using VGChartz weekly sales! lol)

ZIMdoom

No they won't. This is bad news for cows. Just when the PS3 drops to $399 and starts a new marketing push NPD cuts off their sales info. How are cows, or any of us, supposed to know if this is helping or not? Is MS going to be in trouble of slipping into third place, or is the PS3 doomed to lose money and support?

So the cows are getting screwed over if you ask me.

[QUOTE="blue_hazy_basic"]

Cows will be holding street parties over this news :P

Now they can just use whatever figures take their fancy (ie keep using VGChartz weekly sales! lol)

ZIMdoom

No they won't. This is bad news for cows. Just when the PS3 drops to $399 and starts a new marketing push NPD cuts off their sales info. How are cows, or any of us, supposed to know if this is helping or not? Is MS going to be in trouble of slipping into third place, or is the PS3 doomed to lose money and support?

So the cows are getting screwed over if you ask me.

This is win win for Sony. If the PS3 fails to sell they don't release numbers and can put out vague shipped figures. If it does sell well then they can release the NPD numbers and everyone can party.

Looks like NPD wants more money. It was bound to happen.

Oh well, hopefully there are some leaks, but at least they still allow for quarterly info.

[QUOTE="blue_hazy_basic"]

Cows will be holding street parties over this news :P

Now they can just use whatever figures take their fancy (ie keep using VGChartz weekly sales! lol)

ZIMdoom

No they won't. This is bad news for cows. Just when the PS3 drops to $399 and starts a new marketing push NPD cuts off their sales info. How are cows, or any of us, supposed to know if this is helping or not? Is MS going to be in trouble of slipping into third place, or is the PS3 doomed to lose money and support?

So the cows are getting screwed over if you ask me.

Actually that is my thinking as well. If anything Sony will want the sales of the new sku to be VERY public that way it gets postive news for a change (much like the huge increase in PSP sales when the slim andFF finally came out).

[QUOTE="ZIMdoom"][QUOTE="blue_hazy_basic"]

Cows will be holding street parties over this news :P

Now they can just use whatever figures take their fancy (ie keep using VGChartz weekly sales! lol)

blue_hazy_basic

No they won't. This is bad news for cows. Just when the PS3 drops to $399 and starts a new marketing push NPD cuts off their sales info. How are cows, or any of us, supposed to know if this is helping or not? Is MS going to be in trouble of slipping into third place, or is the PS3 doomed to lose money and support?

So the cows are getting screwed over if you ask me.

This is win win for Sony. If the PS3 fails to sell they don't release numbers and can put out vague shipped figures. If it does sell well then they can release the NPD numbers and everyone can party.

Your argument applies to MS in the exact same way . If they remain in the lead they publish, otherwise they don;t

Cows will be holding street parties over this news :P

Now they can just use whatever figures take their fancy (ie keep using VGChartz weekly sales! lol)

blue_hazy_basic

you mean like the chart posted in sony defense force's sit? :lol: sony family vs. separate wii and ds? :lol:

[QUOTE="blue_hazy_basic"][QUOTE="ZIMdoom"][QUOTE="blue_hazy_basic"]

Cows will be holding street parties over this news :P

Now they can just use whatever figures take their fancy (ie keep using VGChartz weekly sales! lol)

NielsNL

No they won't. This is bad news for cows. Just when the PS3 drops to $399 and starts a new marketing push NPD cuts off their sales info. How are cows, or any of us, supposed to know if this is helping or not? Is MS going to be in trouble of slipping into third place, or is the PS3 doomed to lose money and support?

So the cows are getting screwed over if you ask me.

This is win win for Sony. If the PS3 fails to sell they don't release numbers and can put out vague shipped figures. If it does sell well then they can release the NPD numbers and everyone can party.

Your argument applies to MS in the exact same way . If they remain in the lead they publish, otherwise they don;t

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/06/npd-to-withhold-hardware-sales-numbers-from-media/N

NPD is not going to show us how much consoles sell each month and only show how much the top five games sell. Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo are allowed to release their data but that would only happen if it makes them look good. Luckily ...we here at gamespot have determined that sales don't matter and that games are the key to winning a console war.

redandblack23

There are companies besides Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo who get those figures. There are gaming magazines and game publishers that purchase the data, so the figures will eventually be released by someone. Every top 10 game developer gets the figures. NPD not giving these figures to their customer would be a breach of contract and they would be sued to death and put out of business. No worries on this. We'll see the figures eventually.

[QUOTE="NielsNL"][QUOTE="blue_hazy_basic"][QUOTE="ZIMdoom"][QUOTE="blue_hazy_basic"]

Cows will be holding street parties over this news :P

Now they can just use whatever figures take their fancy (ie keep using VGChartz weekly sales! lol)

blue_hazy_basic

No they won't. This is bad news for cows. Just when the PS3 drops to $399 and starts a new marketing push NPD cuts off their sales info. How are cows, or any of us, supposed to know if this is helping or not? Is MS going to be in trouble of slipping into third place, or is the PS3 doomed to lose money and support?

So the cows are getting screwed over if you ask me.

This is win win for Sony. If the PS3 fails to sell they don't release numbers and can put out vague shipped figures. If it does sell well then they can release the NPD numbers and everyone can party.

Your argument applies to MS in the exact same way . If they remain in the lead they publish, otherwise they don;t

I don't agree with that. Over the last year the most negative publicity in the mainstream (papers tv etc) media has been the MS hardware problems. The PS3 has been selling more than the 360 in its first year and I've never seen any negative publicity about PS3 sales outside of gaming sites and similar media.

I don't agree with that. Over the last year the most negative publicity in the mainstream (papers tv etc) media has been the MS hardware problems. The PS3 has been selling more than the 360 in its first year and I've never seen any negative publicity about PS3 sales outside of gaming sites and similar media. NielsNL

Go to CNN, MSNBC, BBC, any major news site since the PS3's launch, there have been plenty of stories about lack of sales.

[QUOTE="NielsNL"]I don't agree with that. Over the last year the most negative publicity in the mainstream (papers tv etc) media has been the MS hardware problems. The PS3 has been selling more than the 360 in its first year and I've never seen any negative publicity about PS3 sales outside of gaming sites and similar media. blue_hazy_basic

Go to CNN, MSNBC, BBC, any major news site since the PS3's launch, there have been plenty of stories about lack of sales.

But many more on failing hardware.

[QUOTE="Son_of_Some"]Now we don't get to see the conclusion in the fight between GBA and PS3. :cry:navneet21

Well considering a Price drop for the 80gb PS3 and 40GB PS3 introduced and PS3 out sold xbox 360 in UK this past month even thow Halo 3 was released...now we wont get to see the conclusion between xbox 360 and PS3 here in north america :(

The salesPS3 figures are already dropping in the U.K. just after 2 weeks. The outcome will be obvious. Same outcome that happened after the 1st price drop. I don't think the XBox 360 bundle has been released in the U.K. yet. It just got released here in the states last week. Watch the hardware sales figures in the next couple of week to see some surges. Hale 3 was released over a month ago. It not going to have any effect on the PS3 40GB $400 system now.

[QUOTE="blue_hazy_basic"]

[QUOTE="NielsNL"]I don't agree with that. Over the last year the most negative publicity in the mainstream (papers tv etc) media has been the MS hardware problems. The PS3 has been selling more than the 360 in its first year and I've never seen any negative publicity about PS3 sales outside of gaming sites and similar media. NielsNL

Go to CNN, MSNBC, BBC, any major news site since the PS3's launch, there have been plenty of stories about lack of sales.

But many more on failing hardware.

cows are gonna love this.

they love spreading "sales numbers" w/o substantiation... and this will only lead to more of that....

good times ahead...:roll:

thanks for nothing npd... why are you in business again?

[QUOTE="blue_hazy_basic"][QUOTE="NielsNL"][QUOTE="blue_hazy_basic"][QUOTE="ZIMdoom"][QUOTE="blue_hazy_basic"]

Cows will be holding street parties over this news :P

Now they can just use whatever figures take their fancy (ie keep using VGChartz weekly sales! lol)

NielsNL

No they won't. This is bad news for cows. Just when the PS3 drops to $399 and starts a new marketing push NPD cuts off their sales info. How are cows, or any of us, supposed to know if this is helping or not? Is MS going to be in trouble of slipping into third place, or is the PS3 doomed to lose money and support?

So the cows are getting screwed over if you ask me.

This is win win for Sony. If the PS3 fails to sell they don't release numbers and can put out vague shipped figures. If it does sell well then they can release the NPD numbers and everyone can party.

Your argument applies to MS in the exact same way . If they remain in the lead they publish, otherwise they don;t

I don't agree with that. Over the last year the most negative publicity in the mainstream (papers tv etc) media has been the MS hardware problems. The PS3 has been selling more than the 360 in its first year and I've never seen any negative publicity about PS3 sales outside of gaming sites and similar media.

You don't know what your talking about. There been negative news on Sony hardware and sonftware sales every month since they've launched. The negative news on M$ hardware hasn't affected it sales at all. In the U.S. they are still outselling the PS3 sales in all 3 of the regions combined. The PS3 negative news have hurt this system hugely. Sony had another 1 billion loss quarter. The big difference is that M$ negative news isn't slowing it down. The PS3 is selling at almost the same rate as the XBox 360. The only reason this is even the case is because M$ had shortages of their XBox 360 for the first 4 months after launch. If M$ didn't have those shortages, the PS3 wouldn't even be at the same selling pace as the XBox 360 right now. PS3 selling at the same pace won't allow them to catch anyone. They will always be in 3rd place if this continues to happen.

[QUOTE="NielsNL"][QUOTE="blue_hazy_basic"]

[QUOTE="NielsNL"]I don't agree with that. Over the last year the most negative publicity in the mainstream (papers tv etc) media has been the MS hardware problems. The PS3 has been selling more than the 360 in its first year and I've never seen any negative publicity about PS3 sales outside of gaming sites and similar media. blue_hazy_basic

Go to CNN, MSNBC, BBC, any major news site since the PS3's launch, there have been plenty of stories about lack of sales.

But many more on failing hardware.

I'm responding to fanboys shouting out that only Sony will profit from this. Read the topic.

This is all Sony's fault. :evil:SER69

i wouldnt' be suprised.

Sony REFUSED to release the sales numbers of teh $700 PSX released only in japan...

sales were ABYSMAL....so they refused to let anyone know how little they sold..

it's sony...it's what they do...;)

[QUOTE="blue_hazy_basic"][QUOTE="NielsNL"][QUOTE="blue_hazy_basic"]

[QUOTE="NielsNL"]I don't agree with that. Over the last year the most negative publicity in the mainstream (papers tv etc) media has been the MS hardware problems. The PS3 has been selling more than the 360 in its first year and I've never seen any negative publicity about PS3 sales outside of gaming sites and similar media. NielsNL

Go to CNN, MSNBC, BBC, any major news site since the PS3's launch, there have been plenty of stories about lack of sales.

But many more on failing hardware.

I'm responding to fanboys shouting out that only Sony will profit from this. Read the topic.

[QUOTE="NielsNL"][QUOTE="blue_hazy_basic"][QUOTE="NielsNL"][QUOTE="blue_hazy_basic"][QUOTE="ZIMdoom"][QUOTE="blue_hazy_basic"]

Cows will be holding street parties over this news :P

Now they can just use whatever figures take their fancy (ie keep using VGChartz weekly sales! lol)

blackace

No they won't. This is bad news for cows. Just when the PS3 drops to $399 and starts a new marketing push NPD cuts off their sales info. How are cows, or any of us, supposed to know if this is helping or not? Is MS going to be in trouble of slipping into third place, or is the PS3 doomed to lose money and support?

So the cows are getting screwed over if you ask me.

This is win win for Sony. If the PS3 fails to sell they don't release numbers and can put out vague shipped figures. If it does sell well then they can release the NPD numbers and everyone can party.

Your argument applies to MS in the exact same way . If they remain in the lead they publish, otherwise they don;t

I don't agree with that. Over the last year the most negative publicity in the mainstream (papers tv etc) media has been the MS hardware problems. The PS3 has been selling more than the 360 in its first year and I've never seen any negative publicity about PS3 sales outside of gaming sites and similar media.

You don't know what your talking about. There been negative news on Sony hardware and sonftware sales every month since they've launched. The negative news on M$ hardware hasn't affected it sales at all. In the U.S. they are still outselling the PS3 sales in all 3 of the regions combined. The PS3 negative news have hurt this system hugely. Sony had another 1 billion loss quarter. The big difference is that M$ negative news isn't slowing it down. The PS3 is selling at almost the same rate as the XBox 360. The only reason this is even the case is because M$ had shortages of their XBox 360 for the first 4 months after launch. If M$ didn't have those shortages, the PS3 wouldn't even be at the same selling pace as the XBox 360 right now. PS3 selling at the same pace won't allow them to catch anyone. They will always be in 3rd place if this continues to happen.

We can argue this all day, but fact is we'll never be able to make sure which media outing has a more negative effect on sales. My guess though would be that slow PS3 sales are more caused by pricing than by media attention on sales, whereas 360 would probably have sold more if there wasn't media attention on failing hardware.

Let's say you don't know anything about both consoles and they're equally priced. You read the paper and you see an article on PS3 not selling well and an article on 360's breaking. Which would influence your potential purchase more? My guess would be the failing hardware. I think lots of (semi)casuals are in a similar position before purchasing either console. They make up the major part of people buying consoles.