Two different kinds of game market researchers are getting married. The NPD Group, which releases data on sales in the game industry on a monthly and quarterly basis, has agreed to buy video games research provider EEDAR.
The Port Washington, N.Y.-based NPD (which also provides data on many other markets) will beef up its advisory and analysis research on games with the acquisition of EEDAR, which just specializes in games. The goal is to combine the complementary assets and expertise of the two companies to give clients access to a full suite of services covering data, insights, and analytics and create a better environment for innovation to meet the rapidly changing needs of the industry.
NPD began tracking video games in 1988, and is the industry’s leading source of retail sales data and consumer insights. In July 2016, NPD introduced the first tracking service for SKU-level sales data on digital games. Its monthly reports paint a picture of the state of the worldwide video game market — but it’s incomplete because it doesn’t count mobile gaming and sales from other PC online stores, like Blizzard Entertainment’s Battle.net or Green Man Gaming.
EEDAR’s proprietary database of video game product metadata spans over 200 million facts and 150,000 titles across console, PC, mobile, and online/social. Its GamePulse analytics platform is a broadly adopted analytics portal that incorporates multiple information sources for contextual insights into industry trends and product performance and marketing strategies.
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“A fundamental goal of EEDAR has always been to improve the quality and speed by which business decisions could be made for game developers and publishers,” said EEDAR CEO Robert Liguori in a statement. “NPD shares this philosophy, and the joining of our resources and passion for this sector will ensure the industry has access to the information it needs as it advances into new platforms and business models.”
The companies already have a history of collaboration, most recently on NPD’s new Digital Tracking Service, which is included in GamePulse. NPD has made its Retail Tracking Service available through GamePulse since 2011. Current product offerings are expected to remain intact, with collaboration on new products to continue. EEDAR will remain based in Carlsbad, California.
“With NPD’s retail and digital tracking assets, EEDAR’s robust data integration and delivery platform, and our combined industry expertise, we will have the insight and information to grow and change with the industry and drive continued global expansion,” said Tim Bush, NPD President of its Americas Commercial Businesses, in a statement.
Closing is anticipated in early October, after which EEDAR will operate as EEDAR, an NPD Group Company.
EEDAR was founded in 2006 by industry veterans, Greg Short and Geoffrey Zatkin, who believed that gaming professionals required objective and contextual insights to make better business decisions.