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The question about why we don’t have a digital sales chart yet rolls around regularly.
This time things are different.
UKIE’s effort is so close you can taste it but need just a nudge at to make it a reality.
Of course a ‘digital chart’ can broadly be anything – the whole market? What about consoles? Or smartphones? Facebook?
Unfortunately a lot of that data is kept under lock and key by the owners of closed platforms, protected by draconian red tape.
Not a chance in hell will you see XBLA, PSN or iTunes data shared any time soon.
So UKIE started modestly by focusing on PC, and its members’ games. After almost two years’ hard work, it now wants to grow that out to include non-members so it can finish painting a picture of the UK’s digital content market.
UKIE’s never promised us the Mona Lisa from the off, but without total support this project will look like an unfinished Picasso.
And while Chart-Track’s retail reports are excellent, they will only remain relevant for so long, making the need for this to happen all the more pressing.
Plus, once that battle is won, it’ll make it much, much easier to start dismantling the barriors around those draconian walled gardens managed by the hardware manufacturers.
