The NPD Group’s monthly games industry reports continue to be widely covered in the media, and it’s easy to understand why. With game publishers hesitant to make a habit of sharing sales figures, the NPDs, as they’re often called, supposedly give us somewhat of a glimpse as to which games are succeeding and which are failing. Criticisms of the NPD Group’s numbers have becoming increasingly common over time, to the point where the question is now being asked whether the media ought to ignore the numbers outright.
That’s the position taken in a new piece by the Penny Arcade Report, and it’s one I find myself agreeing with. Regular readers of 1UP’s news section may have noticed a distinct lack of coverage of the NPDs as of late, dating back to before the change in how news was handled. I personally don’t give a second thought to the numbers anymore — a far cry from the days when I would be highly anticipating them every month. Rather than having multiple pieces per month analyzing and dissecting whatever could be deduced from the numbers, the NPDs are something that rarely cross my mind at this point. And there are a variety of reasons for that.
