LEADING MARKET RESEARCH FIRMS JOIN FORCES TO PROVIDE FIRST MULTI-CONTINENT VIEW OF VIDEO GAME SOFTWARE SALES
New Report Provides Comprehensive View of Global Video Games Sales
in World’s Largest Games Markets
NEW YORK, TOKYO, LONDON, August 21, 2008 – Leading providers of consumer and retail information in the video games industry, The NPD Group, GfK Chart-Track Limited and Enterbrain, Inc., today announced the release of Top Global Markets Report, the first report to integrate point-of-sale (POS) data for video game software sales in the world’s largest games markets.
The leading games information sources in the U.S, U.K. and Japan – the largest games markets in the world – have joined forces to provide the gaming industry with a single source for sales data providing detailed insight into what’s happening in these important markets.
Top Global Markets Report gives the video game industry the ability to equip itself with a monthly report that provides jointly-contributed, title-level video games software sales by country. Data can be viewed as an integrated total market view or as side-by-side country comparisons.
“The video games business has become increasingly global, with the majority of the publishers releasing games in multiple markets,” said Anita Frazier, industry analyst, The NPD Group. “The U.S, as the world’s largest market will be able to view and compare sales for the first time outside of their own market.”
The report allows users to track titles, unit sales and share, as well as dollar sales and revenue share in order to quickly respond to shifts in the marketplace. It gives users the ability to know the market and competitors across countries in order to analyze and respond to global gaming market trends.
“We are excited to be working more closely with NPD and Enterbrain,” said John Pinder, Managing Director, GfK Chart-Track Limited. “This partnership represents a great opportunity to benefit not only our clients but the industry as a whole by providing a comprehensive, industry-supported view of sales across the three largest video game markets,
“We are very grateful to start such a valuable service and alliance with NPD and GfK Chart-Track Limited,” said Hirokazu Hamamura, President, Enterbrain, Inc. “This service gives us the ability to better help game publishers and developers by providing them with a more global view of market performance.”
Year-to-Date* Top 5 Video Game Titles
Top Global Markets Report
Ranked By Units**
Rank Title Total US UK Japan
1 GRAND THEFT AUTO IV 6,293,000 4,711,000 1,582,000 –
2 SUPER SMASH BROS: BRAWL 5,433,000 3,539,000 213,000 1,681,000
3 MARIO KART WII 4,697,000 2,409,000 687,000 1,601,000
4 WII FIT 3,604,000 1,433,000 624,000 1,547,000
5 GUITAR HERO III: LEGENDS OF ROCK 3,475,000 3,037,000 412,000 26,000
Source: Top Global Markets Report / Retail Tracking Service
*Jan.-July 2008
**Unit sales figures rounded
Methodology
Information in this report is based on POS data that comes directly from the leading games sales data providers in each country covered by this report.
About The NPD Group, Inc.
The NPD Group is the leading provider of reliable and comprehensive consumer and retail information for a wide range of industries. Today, more than 1,600 manufacturers, retailers, and service companies rely on NPD to help them drive critical business decisions at the global, national, and local market levels. NPD helps our clients to identify new business opportunities and guide product development, marketing, sales, merchandising, and other functions. Information is available for the following industry sectors: automotive, beauty, commercial technology, consumer technology, entertainment, fashion, food and beverage, foodservice, home, office supplies, software, sports, toys, and wireless. For more information, contact us or visit
http://www.npd.com/About GfK Chart-Track Limited
GfK Chart-Track Limited, a research company based in West London, monitors sales of music, videos and software through retail in the UK, Ireland and Denmark. GfK Chart-Track Limited has established an unparalleled reputation for fast and accurate retail research in the home entertainment market. The methodology used across all GfK Chart-Track Limited’s services is continuous quantitative retail research, giving clients a broad range of statistical information from GfK Chart-Track Limited’s standard and customized services, enabling them to track market size, market trends and product sales through retail. For more information, visit
http://www.chart-track.co.uk/About Enterbrain, Inc.
ENTERBRAIN, INC. is a publisher of top-selling magazines, with each representing a field within the video game industry, including its flagship series of Famitsu magazines – its most popular being Weekly Famitsu. Additionally, Enterbrain, Inc., a publisher of various entertainment books and magazines in genres such as PC game, horse racing, cartoons, game strategy books, and fighting, has also developed numerous hit video games, such as the Derby Stallion series, and put its efforts into network services with sites such as Famitsu.com, as well as mobile phone sites. Enterbrain, Inc. also provides the most comprehensive up-to-date information on Japan’s game hardware/software industry and publishes the ‘Famitsu White Paper’. For more information, visit
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