So NPD has been limiting the video game sales data they release for the last couple of years. Publishers still release limited data in their press releases (if there's anything positive to mention), but we don't get specific sales data anymore, like we did in the previous period.
Previously to THAT, however, sales data was never really available to the consumer at all. The schoolyard Sega/Nintendo fights were more about quality/loyalty/blast processing/Sports Games/Aladdin/Mortal Kombat. Not quite pure debate, but at least minimizing someone's opinion due to populism didn't really happen.
Y'know, unless there was a
TurboGrafx kid around. One of the rare ways that Sega kids and Nintendo kids could bond was by picking on TurboGrafx kids. Ah, memories...
ANYWAY, I admit that sales data is luridly interesting, like a police blotter. But does it really make the gaming scene better in any way to know that good games flop, pandering games sell, and console X is trouncing console Y? Is it valuable for a gamer to know which horse to bet on? Or sneer at underperforming titles? Or does sales data availability just widen the gulf between the haves and have-nots?
More to the point, do you guys follow this stuff at all?
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