VG Chartz
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| VG Chartz | |
|---|---|
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| URL | http://www.vgchartz.com |
| Type of site | Video game sales tracking |
| Registration | Optional (free) |
| Owner | Brett Walton |
| Created by | Brett Walton |
| Launched | June 2006 |
VG Chartz is a video game sales tracking website that provides weekly sales figures of console software and hardware by region. The site was launched by Brett Walton.[1] VG Chartz is ranked amongst the top 5,000 websites in the United States and serves over 3 million page impressions per month.[2] VG Chartz has defended the credibility of its sales data using numbers published by NPD Group[3].
VG Chartz provides tools for data analysis and charting. Regular written analysis of the data referencing major news in the video gaming industry is provided.[4] News organizations such as Forbes, Fortune, The New York Post, and The New York Times often use VG Chartz for sales data in their publications.[5] [6] [7] [8]
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[edit] History
VG Chartz began in September of 2005 when Brett Walton created a small site which collected together publicly available video game sales data in one place for users to view.[9]. The site began to gain media attention after some of its figures were quoted in mainstream publications.
VG Chartz earns money from advertising banners and programs such as Amazon.com stores.[10][11]
In February 2008, Forbes editor, Michael Noer, cited VGChartz in his [1]The Future Of Videogames article.
[edit] Content
VG Chartz tracks the sales data of video game consoles sold by Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft, as well as software for those consoles. VG Chartz has a database which lists sales for many historic video game consoles, but the regular updates focus on the seventh generation video games consoles[2]. These include the home consoles, the Microsoft Xbox 360, the Nintendo Wii, and the Sony PlayStation 3, as well as the current generation of handheld consoles, the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP.
In addition to the sales data, VG Chartz has a large community of members who contribute content to the website. [4]
VG Chartz has an active community with 17,239 (as of April 17th 2008) registered users and subforums for discussing the website, sales data, gaming news in general and by manufacturer, and an off topic section. Each member has a customizable profile, on which they can post a limited amount of information about themselves and their game selection.
Certain members can contribute analysis, industry news and editorials to a site news section, which users can then comment on.
A prediction league is operated by VG Chartz for entertainment purposes; members can predict the exact sales of console software and hardware in a specific region for the following week, and then are awarded points based on the accuracy of them. A league table is updated with the highest-scoring participants.
VG Chartz hosts a user-run database of console game information. Members enter games to the database, and can then submit information such as publisher, release dates, a bit of info about the game, screenshots and comments.[4] Each game in the database has its own page combining user-contributed information with VG Charts sales figures and a divided bar chart of its sales in the three major regions (Americas, Japan and Other, primarily Europe).
[edit] Methodology
The weekly figures VG Chartz publishes are primarily determined from sampled retailer data, and adjusted considering sales history, public data from hardware manufacturers and data from independent sales tracking agencies. VG Chartz tracks sell-through to consumers, not shipment data. [12] Data older than the site's was compiled only from publicly available secondary data.
[edit] Analysis Tools
The sales figures database can be analyzed with tools on the site for data analysis and graphical representation purposes. Tools available include:
- Hardware by date: Users can select start and end dates or hardware from launch, the specific region of sales and which consoles they would like to be displayed (up to three at once); a line chart is then shown. Data can be displayed as weekly or cumulative sales. [13]
- Periodic sales summaries: Users can view weekly, monthly, yearly, or total summaries of data by region, giving a software sales chart as well as hardware and software sales figures with pie charts of sales share. Software sales by publisher are also given.
- Hardware table: Users can see a subset of the data in table form by region and console between set start and end dates.[14]
- Million sellers: A table of console software that has sold over a million copies according to the publishers' data is shown. [15]
[edit] References
- ^ CB Games Interview: VG Chartz Speaks Out
- ^ vgchartz.com - Traffic Details from Alexa
- ^ TheSource (2007-10-19). NPD Data vs. VGC Data for the September 2007 Sales (9/2/07 to 10/6/07). Retrieved on 2007-11-10.
- ^ a b c VGChartz.com |
- ^ The Future Of Videogames - Forbes.com
- ^ FORTUNE: Big Tech Nintendo philosophy dominates U.S. video game charts «
- ^ SALES OF 'MADDEN' HIT 1.8M - New York Post
- ^ JEFF MUSKUS (2008-04-21). NYT Article (4/21/08). Retrieved on 2008-04-21.
- ^ The Bitbag » The Bitbag Interviews Brett Walton, President Of VGChartz.com
- ^ VGChartz.com |
- ^ VGChartz.com | Store
- ^ TheSource. VG Chartz Methodology. Retrieved on 2007-11-10.
- ^ VGChartz.com | Hardware Comparison Charts
- ^ VGChartz.com | Hardware Comparison Charts
- ^ VGChartz.com | Worldwide Million Sellers
