General Discussion

...you can now rely on NPD in the near future. But keep in mind that NPD charges for the majority of their reports and they aren't cheap.

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=17327

some companies make public their subs like Blizzard / NCSoft / Square Enix

but other companies like SOE and Turbine -- this will be helpful for

...so they're publishing "official numbers" that they gather from an online survey.

wow, that's cutting edge technology.

Have to agree, talk about a totally useless service.  They'll be publishing numbers that they extrapolate (a.e, wild arse guesses) from their survey results.  Only thing is some stupid execs are going to buy into it and actually pay for these "results"

Originally posted by Trollstar

Have to agree, talk about a totally useless service.  They'll be publishing numbers that they extrapolate (a.e, wild arse guesses) from their survey results.  Only thing is some stupid execs are going to buy into it and actually pay for these "results"

 

The thing that upsets me most about this...is that I didn't think of it first

I mean, I could ask 6 or 8 of my friends and even do a poll right here on MMORPG.com and then sell subscription numbers as official, I even have Excel to make them look all pretty and real LOL!

Originally posted by Trollstar

Have to agree, talk about a totally useless service.  They'll be publishing numbers that they extrapolate (a.e, wild arse guesses) from their survey results.  Only thing is some stupid execs are going to buy into it and actually pay for these "results"

 

LOL  ... you know next to NOTHING about their methodologies and you write them off? People are so idiotic to write other people off without even knowing the details.

Knowing other research companies (I have colleagues working with Nelson), they probably have tracking done on a panel and not just surveys. And even surveys can give reasonable accurate information if done right. There is a whole field of scientific research regarding the use of, and accuracy of surveys.

Originally posted by nariusseldon

 

Originally posted by Trollstar

Have to agree, talk about a totally useless service.  They'll be publishing numbers that they extrapolate (a.e, wild arse guesses) from their survey results.  Only thing is some stupid execs are going to buy into it and actually pay for these "results"

 

 

LOL  ... you know next to NOTHING about their methodologies and you write them off? People are so idiotic to write other people off without even knowing the details.

Knowing other research companies (I have colleagues working with Nelson), they probably have tracking done on a panel and not just surveys. And even surveys can give reasonable accurate information if done right. There is a whole field of scientific research regarding the use of, and accuracy of surveys.

 

Their "methodologies" are posted right on the link.  They are online surveys.

Apparently you know next to nothing about "click link and read"

Let me help you...

"will be tallied based on an "online panel of more than 3 million consumers who have agreed to complete online surveys.""

oh, p.s. Are you sure your "close colleagues" don't work for NIELSEN...

People are failing to realize how expensive and massive an undertaking it is to survey 3 million people. In the late 80s surveying around 200,000 people across 52 countries for the Globe project IIRC was the biggest undertaking in gathering data by any single company.

You also have to consider that the estimated size of subcribers at this point is about 30-40 million people. sampling 8-10% of the probable population is excessively accurate.

  yawn...

Originally posted by mutantmagnet

People are failing to realize how expensive and massive an undertaking it is to survey 3 million people. In the late 80s surveying around 200,000 people across 52 countries for the Globe project IIRC was the biggest undertaking in gathering data by any single company.

You also have to consider that the estimated size of subcribers at this point is about 30-40 million people. sampling 8-10% of the probable population is excessively accurate.

since you just stated your self that the number of total subscribers by itself is already just an estimate, "excessively accurate" really doesn't come into play.  You also realize this is a group who had to re-release it's "best selling games of 2007" because it couldn't even get that right.  Also worth pointing out, guess what...they're SO accurate that when they calculate sales figures they leave out digital downloads and big box retailers...

oh...and one more thing?  They're only tracking US subscriptions with this ridiculous online poll.

I believe that many will find this tracking report more dependable than the majority of external information currently available as long as the methodology remains consistant.

I am one of the client members that requested for this information a year ago; therefore, I am quite interested in this update! From my experience, the company offers purchase data that is useful for cross comparison as long as it's within their data pool.

I've been using personal applications to determine MMO subscriber numbers in North American, and "I think" my numbers are very accurate! I can decide after comparing their presentation with my results whether or not I should purchase the service - and save myself some future efforts!