high voltage Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 (edited) source: Computer Gaming World . Edited January 21, 2017 by high voltage 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+davidcalgary29 Posted January 22, 2017 Share Posted January 22, 2017 But the article actually doesn't assert the assumption that you're making: it does not equate 'Atari's share' with the 7800. It instead seems to conflate sales of all three Atari consoles on the market at that time.I think that estimate was just that, too, and was later revised downwards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DracIsBack Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 But the article actually doesn't assert the assumption that you're making: it does not equate 'Atari's share' with the 7800. It instead seems to conflate sales of all three Atari consoles on the market at that time.I think that estimate was just that, too, and was later revised downwards. Marketshare is one of those things that both video game fans and also publications always tended to mess up. Typically it measured the number of items sold at any given time period, not the number in use. It also tended to be focused on a region. For example, say Atari ran a super aggressive promotion in the USA during November of 1988. As a result, 24% of all video game consoles sold during November of 1988in the USA were by Atari. Atari would be listed as having "24% marketshare" during November 1988 in the USA. Now suppose the promotion ended and in December, Sega ran a promotion. Now suppose December 1988 saw Sega sell 20% of video games, while Atari only sold 15% of video games sold that month. In neither case, do the numbers reflect their percentage of the total number of consoles they've ever sold; the installed base of active users; nor their totals outside of the USA. But for some reason, you'd see pubs and people interpret it like that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhd Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 In neither case, do the numbers reflect their percentage of the total number of consoles they've ever sold; the installed base of active users; nor their totals outside of the USA. But for some reason, you'd see pubs and people interpret it like that I agree, but we are also limited to analyzing the data that is publicly available. Media reports and news stories are certainly not the most reliable source, especially for this type of data, but frequently they are the only source available, so we have no choice but to make use of them... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DracIsBack Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 I agree, but we are also limited to analyzing the data that is publicly available. Media reports and news stories are certainly not the most reliable source, especially for this type of data, but frequently they are the only source available, so we have no choice but to make use of them... Yes, agree. Just saying that the media often doesn't understand what the data is and therefore doesn't report it correctly. Quite a few times, I've seen a report like this, followed by a "But I thought Nintendo had 90% of the market" type comment without either party understanding what is being measured here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
empsolo Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 I like the fact the thread title says second market leader when the article itself admits it's a really distant second in a three horse race even when you lump all three of Atari Corp's consoles together. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenixdownita Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 I like how the word "leader" is put there quite haphazardly, if you take it out "Atari second in USA market in 1988" it sounds less "important" although it may have been likely true wrt console sales, add there a "distant second" and as we get closer to the truth that "leader" word sounds even more ludicrous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HammR25 Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 A great man once said, "If you're not first, you're last." 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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