VG Chartz
Encyclopedia
The VGChartz Network is a network of five video game websites - VGChartz, gamrFeed, gamrReview, gamrTV and gamrConnect. VGChartz itself sits at the centre of the VGChartz Network and is a video game sales tracking website
that provides weekly sales figures of console
software and hardware by region. The site was launched in June 2005 and is owned by Brett Walton. Employing ten people, VGChartz provides tools for worldwide data analysis and regular worldwide written analysis of the data it provides.
VGChartz provides tools for data analysis and charting and regular written analysis of the data referencing major news in the video gaming industry. Sales figures on VGChartz are based on estimates extrapolated from small retail samples. While offering some information about their methodology through their website, VGChartz does not publish any sources on how they get their data. Some sites, including Gamasutra
and Wired News
, have questioned the reliability of the information presented by the site. VGChartz has defended the credibility and reliability of its sales data, often comparing their numbers with the ones published by NPD Group
, although some charts have been retroactively adjusted to better match NPD's monthly reports.
In June 2008 Robert Pasarella wrote an article comparing VGChartz and NPD services, advantages and disadvantages, VGChartz being the winner due to the modality on their service. However, in the same month Simon Carless
wrote an article in which he criticized VG Chartz for the poor tracking of a video game Iron Man in comparison to NPD, for adjusting data to match other sales tracking firms in certain cases, and for making educated guesses for some figures data for other regions. Brett argued against the claims made by Simon, indicating that he had cherry-picked certain pieces of data to present VGChartz in a bad light rather than present a fair evaluation of the data.
With the launch of PlayStation Move and Kinect towards the end of 2010, renewed interest in the videogame market led VGChartz to report estimates for initial sales of both pieces of hardware. Aaron Greenberg, Microsoft Chief of Staff for Interactive Entertainment Business openly criticized VGChartz data for Kinect on his Twitter feed, later adding "Sorry if my note offended". The comments from Greenberg prompted Walton to write an editorial "Why it is so Easy to Blame VGChartz" in which he addressed why media organisations and publishers try to undermine the data and methods on the site.
VGChartz provides sales data for all current gaming consoles and portables, as well as retail gaming software for all major platforms. The main service provided by VG Chartz is weekly charts of hardware
and software sales for the video game console
s sold by Nintendo
, Sony
, and Microsoft
. This data is presented in three separate charts that each cover one of the three main video game markets (Japan
, North America
, and EMEAA (Europe
, Middle-East, Africa
and Asia
). The site does provide sales charts for many older consoles, but with the exception of the PlayStation 2
, the regular updates focus on the current generation
of home consoles and handhelds. The sales figures database can be analyzed with tools on the site for data analysis and graphical representation purposes. Tools available include Americas Pre-orders, which lists the total pre-orders in the Americas for all upcoming titles and the weekly change, Hardware table, where users can see a subset of the data in table form by region and console between set start and end dates, Million sellers, a table of console software that has sold over a million copies according to the publishers' data is shown, Weekly Records, a chart listing the top selling title in a given week from release, and Milestones, a chart listing the quickest games to a given sales milestone.
gamrFeed is a gaming news blog that features breaking news stories, features, editorials and sales articles. gamrReview features reviews and previews of games as well as a video game database that features reviews, release dates, screenshots, details, cheats, sales data and more. gamrConnect is the social branch of the network featuring active forums and profiles that feature comment walls and a game collection.
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
that provides weekly sales figures of console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
software and hardware by region. The site was launched in June 2005 and is owned by Brett Walton. Employing ten people, VGChartz provides tools for worldwide data analysis and regular worldwide written analysis of the data it provides.
VGChartz provides tools for data analysis and charting and regular written analysis of the data referencing major news in the video gaming industry. Sales figures on VGChartz are based on estimates extrapolated from small retail samples. While offering some information about their methodology through their website, VGChartz does not publish any sources on how they get their data. Some sites, including Gamasutra
Gamasutra
Gamasutra is a website founded in 1997 for video game developers. It is owned and operated by UBM TechWeb , a division of United Business Media, and acts as the online sister publication to the print magazine Game Developer...
and Wired News
Wired News
Wired News is an online technology news website, formerly known as HotWired, that split off from Wired magazine when the magazine was purchased by Condé Nast Publishing in the 1990s. Wired News was owned by Lycos not long after the split, until Condé Nast purchased Wired News on July 11, 2006...
, have questioned the reliability of the information presented by the site. VGChartz has defended the credibility and reliability of its sales data, often comparing their numbers with the ones published by NPD Group
NPD Group
The NPD Group, Inc. is a leading North American market research company. The NPD Group consistently ranks among the top 25 market research companies in the independent Honomichl Top 50 report, which the media and the research industry acknowledge as a credible source of information on the market...
, although some charts have been retroactively adjusted to better match NPD's monthly reports.
History
VGChartz began in June 2005 when Brett Walton created an area on everythingandnothing.org.uk (as the site he had created at the time) called "videogame sales charts" which collected publicly available video game sales data in one place for users to view. In July 2006, Brett launched VGCharts.org, a stand-alone version of the sub-site on everythingandnothing and still collecting publicly available data together from across the web. In March 2007, Brett bought the VGChartz.com domain and rebranded the site as VGChartz. With this re-launch came the move from collecting publicly available data to carrying out original research on the videogame market, and VGChartz began to produce its own weekly charts.In June 2008 Robert Pasarella wrote an article comparing VGChartz and NPD services, advantages and disadvantages, VGChartz being the winner due to the modality on their service. However, in the same month Simon Carless
Simon Carless
Simon Carless is a video game industry journalist, editor and game designer. He was born in London, England and presently resides in San Jose, California...
wrote an article in which he criticized VG Chartz for the poor tracking of a video game Iron Man in comparison to NPD, for adjusting data to match other sales tracking firms in certain cases, and for making educated guesses for some figures data for other regions. Brett argued against the claims made by Simon, indicating that he had cherry-picked certain pieces of data to present VGChartz in a bad light rather than present a fair evaluation of the data.
With the launch of PlayStation Move and Kinect towards the end of 2010, renewed interest in the videogame market led VGChartz to report estimates for initial sales of both pieces of hardware. Aaron Greenberg, Microsoft Chief of Staff for Interactive Entertainment Business openly criticized VGChartz data for Kinect on his Twitter feed, later adding "Sorry if my note offended". The comments from Greenberg prompted Walton to write an editorial "Why it is so Easy to Blame VGChartz" in which he addressed why media organisations and publishers try to undermine the data and methods on the site.
VGChartz Network
In June 2010, VGChartz launched the VGChartz Network. VGChartz is still the site for sales data. gamrReview was launched as a home for the network's reviews and previews. gamrFeed was launched as a blog-style site for news, editorials, and features. It also aggregates the content from VGChartz and gamrReview. gamrConnect was launched as a site dedicated to the VGChartz community.VGChartz provides sales data for all current gaming consoles and portables, as well as retail gaming software for all major platforms. The main service provided by VG Chartz is weekly charts of hardware
Computer hardware
Personal computer hardware are component devices which are typically installed into or peripheral to a computer case to create a personal computer upon which system software is installed including a firmware interface such as a BIOS and an operating system which supports application software that...
and software sales for the video game console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
s sold by Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
, Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
, and Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
. This data is presented in three separate charts that each cover one of the three main video game markets (Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, and EMEAA (Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Middle-East, Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
and Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
). The site does provide sales charts for many older consoles, but with the exception of the PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
, the regular updates focus on the current generation
History of video game consoles (seventh generation)
In the history of video games, the seventh generation of consoles is the current generation , and includes consoles released since late by Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony...
of home consoles and handhelds. The sales figures database can be analyzed with tools on the site for data analysis and graphical representation purposes. Tools available include Americas Pre-orders, which lists the total pre-orders in the Americas for all upcoming titles and the weekly change, Hardware table, where users can see a subset of the data in table form by region and console between set start and end dates, Million sellers, a table of console software that has sold over a million copies according to the publishers' data is shown, Weekly Records, a chart listing the top selling title in a given week from release, and Milestones, a chart listing the quickest games to a given sales milestone.
gamrFeed is a gaming news blog that features breaking news stories, features, editorials and sales articles. gamrReview features reviews and previews of games as well as a video game database that features reviews, release dates, screenshots, details, cheats, sales data and more. gamrConnect is the social branch of the network featuring active forums and profiles that feature comment walls and a game collection.