2008's NPD numbers are now out there for analysis. So let the analysis commence! Up for discussion tonight are PC sales numbers, and how the NPD Group tell us they're down 14% from 2007.
Which, according to the way the NPD Group collect their sales data, is correct! Bad bad news, right? No, no, no. Remember, the NPD Group only collect PC sales numbers from a select group of bricks-n-mortar retailers. They don't track Amazon, they don't track Steam, they don't track Direct2Drive.
Considering how Steam blew up in 2008, with everyone from Electronic Arts to Ubisoft rushing to get their games on the service, pointing out that PC sales "decreased" doesn't highlight any downward trend for the PC gaming market. It instead serves only to highlight how increasingly inadequate NPD's PC sales data is becoming (which is why we include Steam and Direct2Drive on our PC charts!).
NPD: PC Game Sales Fall 14% in 2008 [GameDaily]