EA Labels president Frank Gibeau says that the NPD's industry reports are but a small sliver of what really is going on, so EA sees them as largely irrelevant. This lead the NPD to comment on their data, saying that it's used quite widely.

"While we will not comment on the specifics on our long-standing relationship with EA, we can say with confidence that we have daily dealings with all of our major publisher clients. And we know for a fact they're using the data."

As the industry moves more towards the digital side of things, NPD really has to step up their game. As time passes, less and less of the market's happenings are being tracked.