Level Up! vs E-games vs Amped Games

According to this link, the Philippines will have about 6.3 million online gamers in 2008, in a study that was released by International Data Corporation.
MANILA, Jan. 28 (Xinhuanet) — The number of online gamers in the Philippines will reach 6.3 million by 2008, said a research released by the International Data Corporation (IDC). The increase is driven by the availability of new online gametitles and more broadband connections
Imagine my amusement when I came across an article in today’s Inquirer. Please pay special attention to the numbers that were mentioned.
The networks are taking different routes to gaming glory. ABS-CBN has its wholly owned unit Amped Games. The unit registered 2.5 million active users for 2007 and wants to double that to 5 million in 2008, said Mitch Padua, Amped Games division head.
GMA is catching up by forging an P800-million joint venture called I-Play with listed conglomerate IPVG Corp., which has an existing active player base of 2.5 million.
Without going into figure specifics, you can obviously see the difference in site traffic. This can mean a few things.
One is bloating their figures.
One is lying.
Both are lying.
If you notice, the 3rd player trumps both of these sites in terms of average site traffic, and yet, they aren’t even mentioned in the article. While the local gaming market can pretty much be defined by online games, seeing these outrageous claims just makes me scratch my head (after all, I used to work for a videogame magazine).
Let me put it this way. Judging by the 18,000 that was able to fill up the Araneta Coliseum in last night’s game 7, why not prove all the claims and stage an event there? Surely, if each of these gaming companies really have 2.5 million existing gamers, how hard can it be to mobilize about 18,000 of them?
I just hope we can put an end to all these fabricated figures. The local gaming industry would be better off that way.
*2.5 million gamers to be increased to 5 million in 2008? Give me an effin’ break. Visit the Amped Forums and you’ll see that they only have around 37,800+ members.