NPD has been publicly posting the video game console hardware sales numbers for the last year.  It’s fueled the fanboy wars, and also made Sony’s lack of traction with the PS3 embarrassingly easy to track. So suddenly, with a lot of posturing and puffing, and probably more than a little pressure from the console manufacturers, they decided to stop. Now they’ve changed their minds.

At least they had the good sense to point out their own mistake:

NPD Group’s David Riley admitted in an e-mail Monday, “Honestly, it was terribly naive of me to think that we could simply stop providing these after giving them freely for a year.

Nothing is going to change. All will remain the same… The ‘Big Three’ [Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony] are on board, so we’ll be providing these figures indefinitely.”

I think this is ultimately a win for them, and showing a little contrition will go a long way in their favor.  They got some publicity, and the major companies have now given them their blessing.

It’s also a win for the power of online communities.  They flexed their muscle and the man backed down.