NPD will now track digital sales for many publishers

The NPD monthly sales report is one of those things that gamers love to reference when it comes to comparing how their system of choice is doing as well as seeing how their favorite games are selling. The one problem with it though was with the movement towards digital sales, those numbers weren't being tracked. The NPD has been looking to do so for many years now, but it looks like it's finally going to happen for a good number of titles.

Starting with July and on every third Thursday of the month, digital sales will now be combined with physical sales for games. Now, it doesn't have all the publishers on board, but most of the major ones are in. They include EA, Activision, Ubisoft, Capcom, Square Enix, Take-Two, Deep Silver and Warner Bros. First party publishers are missing and some major companies are still not on board, but the NPD is hoping that they will join soon. If a game doesn't have a digital sales data, they will note it so in the report next to the title.

What about DLC? That's going to be tracked, but the numbers won't be released as part of the public report.

So while it doesn't encompass all titles, there's a good majority of them that's going to be tracked. The service should continue to improve and hopefully, companies like Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo will join as well to make the list even more complete.