Today, the NPD Group released an announcement stating that it has officially signed an agreement to acquire the video game industry market research and data analysis firm, EEDAR. With the acquisition, NPD (which launched its Digital Game Tracking Service last month) will add EEDAR’s video game database of product metadata, which includes over 200 million facts and 150,000 titles across console, PC, mobile and online/social platforms. Additionally, EEDAR’S GamePulse analytics platform incorporates multiple information sources for contextual insights into industry trends, product performance and marketing strategies. NPD has been the leading source of retail sales data and consumer insights since it first started tracking the video game industry in 1988.
“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, Americas commercial businesses, in a press release.
Robert Liguori, EEDAR CEO, said in the same press release that: “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. 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.”
NPD and EEDAR have a history of collaboration, most recently working together to develop NPD’s Digital Game Tracking Service, which is available in GamePulse. The Retail Game Tracking Service has been part of GamePulse since 2011.
Greg Short, co-founder of EEDAR, spoke with [a]listdaily about what the acquisition means for the two companies. “EEDAR and NPD have been working together in improving insight into the video game industry for our clients for many years,” he said, when asked what led to the acquisition.
Short also discussed how the acquisition would enhance the two companies’ services.
“NPD has global resources, they are the leaders of understanding sales data in the video game space, and they have deep relations across the industry. EEDAR has expertise. We have metadata, which enables the analysis of their sales data at much more granular levels for more interesting trends. And EEDAR and NPD have been collaborating to address the gap of visibility for the digital sales of the industry, in conjunction with leading publishers. We feel that by bringing our two companies together, we have the resources and the expertise that no one else in the industry can bring to bear to finally solve the problem of getting true, accurate numbers about what’s going on in the PC, console, and emerging digital sales areas of the video game industry.”
We also asked if EEDAR would still continue as an independent market research company to serve its clients. “EEDAR will continue to operate as an independent entity. It’ll be known as EEDAR, an NPD Group company,” said Short. “EEDAR will continue to operate, and all personnel are remaining with the company. The leadership and management of the company is remaining unchanged. All of our customers will continue to have access to all that EEDAR has provided, but now with the added benefit of access to deeper resources, a wider range of data and global support.”
