Have you ever heard of the NPD Group? If not, here’s a quick primer: The NPD Group is an analysis company that interprets data from over 900 different retailers and uses that information to create reports outlining the sales of games. With over 150,000 locations reporting in, the NPD Group usually has a pretty good idea of what people are buying.

With one huge exception – until now, the NPD Group did not analyze sales information from the megastore, Wal-Mart. And as much as hardcore gamers would like to say otherwise, Wal-Mart makes up a huge portion of the retail games market – 25-30 percent, in fact. With Wal-Mart’s data on tap, the NPD Group can now capture an estimated 80 percent of all domestic game sales, and thus provide much more accurate sale information.

Here’s why I think this is so interesting – Wal-Mart game sales are notorious for leaning towards the casual side of gaming. People that aren’t “gamers” don’t go to game stores; they go to Wal-Mart or another huge megastore. And the information provided by Wal-Mart could just show some unexpected trends in the industry.

We’ll have to wait for the next NPD report to see if Wal-Mart’s numbers present any surprises, but at the very minimum, the analyses can be relied upon to be more accurate than ever.

Where do you buy your games? I’m fond of Target myself; no one tries to get me to subscribe to magazines there.

[Gamasutra]

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