Epic Games has hit out at renowned market intelligence firm SuperData for publishing “inaccurate” numbers after the company reported on Fortnite‘s revenue decline.
“SuperData does not and has not ever had access to Epic’s Fortnite revenue data, and SuperData’s reports do not accurately reflect Fortnite‘s performance,” the developer told Games Industry. “We are disappointed that SuperData has repeatedly published wildly inaccurate reports about Fortnite based on what we believe is questionable methodology. While we do not and have not publicly shared revenue numbers for Fortnite, we will say that SuperData’s reports do not align with reality.”
Interestingly, it was only last month that Epic Games’ Chief Executive Officer Tim Sweeney quoted a positive report regarding Epic Games Store from SuperData. Although the developer is specifically taking issue with Fortnite numbers and not SuperData in general, this does beg the question of whether Epic Games is concerned about negative reports rather than inaccuracy.
For its part, SuperData does explain its modus operandi on its website. Parent company Nielsen separately told GameDaily that it has “a proven methodology and validation process.” A representative said:
SuperData has been providing transparency for the games industry since 2009. As an independent research firm, we have a proven methodology and validation process that enables us to forecast and provide market intelligence to help our clients make informed business decisions. We stand behind our previously reported numbers for Epic’s Fortnite.
“We have multiple platforms that use our own payments services and we don’t share that,” Epic Games argued. “It’s not like they can extrapolate from SteamSpy data or something.”
Do our readers think there’s a need for data transparency in the games industry?
[Source: Games Industry, GameDaily]
