NPD: We Will Report Digital Sales On A Monthly Basis

The NPD Group intends to deliver digital sales data on a monthly basis to supplement its monthly physical U.S. retail sales reports, according to NPD analyst Anita Frazier. Talking to GamesIndustry.biz [registration required], Frazier said that the research company is looking to report on revenue from video game subscriptions, downloadable content, mobile and social gaming every month. Frazier said of the decision, "We are expanding the number of digital retailers we have relationships with in order to develop a digital POS (point of sale) service." "The goal is to provide our clients with a total POS games tracking service that incorporates the growing digital channel as well as the currently predominant physical format, and to deliver this at the same frequency as we currently do for new physical retail sales (monthly)." With retail sales estimated to account for around 60 per cent of the U.S. video games market, Frazier believes that digital distributors will soon become more open with their sales figures. Frazier noted, "It will become increasingly challenging for the financial community to create proper valuations of companies in the absence of an objective third-party source covering the entire market, and it will be harder for companies to manage their businesses and resources without visibility into all forms of distribution." Frazier's comments come in light of EA's damning remarks earlier this week. Electronic Arts corporate communications' Tiffany Steckler said that "Using NPD data for video game sales is like measuring music sales and ignoring something called iTunes." She continued, "We see NPD's data as a misrepresentation of the entire industry."