There are few things that get a crowd on its feet like a Hail Mary pass lofted onto the air as the clock is winding down. We should know, because we threw one this morning that still has the stadium shell-shocked: our Monday Morning Quarterback scoop that the NPD Group is cutting back on the videogame sales data it makes available to the media. And as we predicted, hot, bitter tears are being shed by DIY analysts at the prospect of being denied the sweet milk of industry sales data. NPD Group director David Riley contacted us with a statement to clarify his company's new position, which reads:
At this time last year, it was made very clear that NPD will provide media with hardware sales figures, but that it would only be temporary. As you may recall, we never provided these numbers until Nov.'06, the first month when all three new consoles were on the market. It's been a year, so it's time to pull back.
It's better to pull back and leave it up to our clients to release their numbers. Or, if manufacturers tell us it's okay to release their hardware sales numbers, then we'll go back to providing them, but that shouldn't be our call.
Upon further reflection, the second part of Riley's statement strikes us as somewhat odd. Because as we understand it, the NPD Group gathers this data from retailers, not from manufacturers, so it's unclear to us why it should be Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony's call as to whether or not this data is made available to lowly scribes such as ourselves.
As a fellow ink-stained wretch said to us via email earlier today, "Does it ever seem to you that it's totally bizarre and probably not good that we don't have something like, say, Billboard, which reports the relevant data freely? Not to mention [the Japanese sales reporting organizations] Media Create and Enterbrain." To which we replied, "I agree with you completely. It's a real bummer." So there it is: the NPD Group's official statement. You may now return to the gnashing of teeth and rending of garments already in progress.
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