NPD to Track Digital Game Sales in US

The NPD Group (which provides market statistics) recently announced a digital point-of-sale sourced service that intends to track digital game sales.

The NPD Group launches digital games tracking service for gaming industry, https://t.co/UyiVCsY6Wp

— The NPD Group (@npdgroup) July 11, 2016

It claims to be one of the first services in the gaming industry for the United States to provide data sourced from the publisher themselves in regards to digital game content. Basically, the NPD’s monthly reports on video games will have digital sales taken into account, starting on July 21st.

According to MCVUK, Activision Blizzard, Capcom, Deep Silver, EA, Square Enix, Take-Two, Ubisoft, and Warner Bros all agreed to sign up, which allows NPD to track digital sales not just on PC, but on the Playstation Network and Xbox Live as well. However, in cases like EA’s PC sales, Blizzard’s Battle.net service, or Ubisoft’s Uplay – these will not be taken into account in the NPD reports.

“As has been experienced across a wide variety of industries, digital has made a big impact on the overall gaming market, and we’ve risen to meet the demand for a reporting mechanism that tracks those sales in a timely and accurate way,” said Joanne Hageman, President of NPD U.S. Toys & Games. “With the participation and support of leading publishers – whose cooperation makes this possible – we are excited to launch an industry-first service that addresses a long-standing need.”

Taking it a step further, the NPD plans to estimate digital sales of publishers that didn’t even sign up to the digital tracking service itself. The NPD hopes to expand this system into other countries beyond the United States, if proven successful enough in it’s purpose.

“While digital gaming has exploded in the past several years, physical gaming sales, including hardware and accessories, have a major presence in this industry,” added Hageman. “With a more complete picture, participants are able to make better business decisions with a broader set of data.”

More reliant information means a better product for costumers, as it would help the gaming industry make better decisions on how to move forward with their particular companies. Win-win.