VGChartz Methodology
Data-Collection Methodology
All sales estimates on VGChartz are arrived at via a number of proprietrary and ever-developing methods:
- Passively polling end users to find out what games they are currently purchasing and playing
- Polling retail partners to find out what games and hardware they are selling
- Using statistical trend fitting and historical data for similar games
- Studying resell prices to determine consumer demand and inventory levels
- Consulting with publishers and manufacturers to find out how many units they are introducing into the channel
All data is regularly checked against manufacturer shipments and data released publicly from other tracking firms to ensure accuracy. VGChartz holds no responsibility for the use of our data – any business decisions made are made at your own risk.
Regional Definitions
Data is directly estimated in the following countries on a weekly basis for around 5000 SKUs using the methodology outlined above:
- USA
- UK
- Germany
- France
- Japan
Collectively, we estimate that total retail game sales in these 5 countries account for around 70% of the Global market. The raw data collected in these five regions are used to produce two extrapolated charts:
- Europe - UK + Germany + France extrapolated to represent the European Totals
- Global - USA + Europe + Japan extrapolated to represent the Global Totals
During 2012, VGChartz has plans to produce further direct charts for Canada, Spain, Italy, Latin America, Australia and Asia - each new chart will provide more regional insight along with greater Global accuracy.
More Data / Contact
VGChartz offers a professional data service called VGChartz Pro. If you require any custom analysis, preview data, forecasts or any other bespoke service outside of the scope of what is offered publically on VGChartz, or want to know more about the website then please contact us – contact AT vgchartz.com
