VGChartz: guesstimates are great, but where’s the hard data?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Tuesday, 24 June 2008 11:22

Opinion and Analysis

Gamasutra tells us that the press release headline originally said 1.5m units, and came just 48 hours after the game was launched, which in itself was surprising.

Gamasutra then explains that it asked VGChartz what happened, and they explained that although they’d received firm first day sales info for Japan and the US, they’d simply guesstimated figures for Europe, and turned out to be nearly 200,000 units wrong, which is a lot of units!

There’s also concern about non-big name titles and where they end up on VGChartz lists, and a warning not to rely on the VGChartz figures.

There’s been no official response from VGChartz, although Gamasutra does include an “impressive” (as Gamasutra puts it) statement from VGChartz on how they collate their data, with VGChartz also explaining that some of its methodology is secret.

There can be no doubt that VGChartz has by now read Gamasutra’s analysis, and will do what it can to be more accurate and address other shortcomings in the way it presents data.

That in itself will help to make VGChartz’ information more useful, more authoritative and more quotable, as it’s hard to be authoritative if no-one is taking you seriously.

The progress VGChartz makes in better sourcing and presenting its data will clearly be scrutinised by the gaming industry.

After all, providing reliable data is a serious business, otherwise you’re just playing games.