Gamertell

Research company NPD Group has been releasing monthly US video game retail sales figures, making it the leading authority when it comes to video game sales data and consumer behavior around the globe. A lot of changes have swept the games industry in recent times and, in a bid to keep pace with the industry, NPD will now also track paid online subscriptions.

It will very soon begin releasing a Video Game & PC Subscriptions report every quarter. The report will cover paid subscriptions to video games, MMO/PC games, gaming websites, and videogame console services. As for the data, NPD will depend on the Quarterly revenues obtained from the companies concerned and its tried and tested 3 million-strong consumer panel.

Now NPD data will be more comprehensive as it did not previously take into account the revenues from paid online subscriptions. So, in a way, its sales data currently doesn’t present the complete picture as far as MMO games are concerned since direct sales account for far less revenue compared to the paid subscriptions. It has confirmed that the service will include Xbox Live subscription data as well.

NPD is playing the waiting game as far as tracking downloadable content (DLC) data is concerned, which these days accounts for a large share of video game revenues. Covering DLC might happen later this year once NPD is able to sort out a few issues.

Read [Next-Gen]