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US video games trade body the Entertainment Software Association has criticised the market data released by research firm NPD.
The company’s data for the US games market in 2015 indicated that the industry was flat year-on-year, but the ESA says this depiction of the sector is not accurate. This is due to the fact that NPD only tracks physical goods.
"Scores of millions of consumers purchase innovative content in myriad ways, including subscription services, digital downloads, and via their mobile devices," said the ESA.
"Gone are the days when the industry’s growth and strength could be determined by retailers simply reporting packaged good sales. Unfortunately, NPD’s revenue data yesterday continued to reinforce that traditional model at the expense of new areas where the industry is growing.
"Consumers, the creators and innovators of our industry, and the investment community deserve better. ESA will do its part by encouraging and motivating NPD to release the total consumer spend for 2015 that includes all aspects of this diverse industry."
A representative of the NPD has since replied to the ESA’s comments.
NPD is fully committed to reporting on the total industry, which we have done for several years at the category level through our Games Market Dynamics service,” they said.
NPD’s monthly retail/e-tail data release covers physical sales, which remains a very significant portion of total industry sales, but is not representative of total video game industry revenue. We have been clear on the scope of these monthly reports.”
Last year, MCV launched our Digital Counts campaign, in which we called upon the UK games industry to share their digital data alongside
