Retailers herald new era for games data
The Entertainment Retailers Association has reached agreement with long-term games data supplier GfK which will lead to greater competition in the supply of games data and, for the first time, allow physical and digital sales data to be aggregated on one platform.
ERA members – who include among others GAME, Amazon, supermarkets, Grainger Games, the Hut - account for the vast majority of the UK physical games market dominated by console games.
Under the new arrangement, ERA’s previously exclusive deal to supply GfK with games data will become non-exclusive from January 2019.
ERA has struck a separate deal with the Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE) and specialist data services company B2Boost who will combine ERA members’ physical sales data with digital sales data to produce integrated charts and market analysis from 2019.
The new arrangement means the existing GfK and integrated ISFE-B2Boost services will run in parallel from 2019.
ERA CEO Kim Bayley said, “This is an innovative and exciting direction for games data to take. GfK has been the gold standard for physical games data and charts for more than two decades and we are delighted to confirm our relationship with them through to mid-2019. At the same time, we recognise that ISFE and B2Boost have captured digital data which our members are looking to analyse alongside the physical market. This twin track solution looks to be a win-win for all concerned.”