Monty on 10 January 2007
someone said:
Well hold on, the reality is every single number on this page is wrong by now. Wii has defiantly shipped and sold more than 4 million now. The PS3 with the returns and such has definitely sold less than it shipped, but 1.41 reflects shipped and is right now assuming sold.
The reality is VGCharts like everything else is a poor guestimate. Honestly, your argument with them is kind of like talking to an Evangelical Christian about evolution. You can't really "Prove them wrong".
That being said, there really is no way a store will have 200+ of anything over $100 stocked. That's seriously retarded to believe that is happening. If you don't understand why I ask you merely to ask a manager why don't they stock 200+ of any particular item valued over $100.
Again that being said we can also make the argument that XBox 360 actually has a much smaller install base than 8.3 million. Since we aren't counting used consoles being resold at gamestops etc...
A realistic number is to say 10 new 5 used in stock in each small store and 30 per large store (noting large stores don't sell pre-owned). With over 30k shopping centers in USA, we're looking at probably close to 400k unsold Xbox 360s in USA alone http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2003/cb03-ff19.pdf
Japan and Europe would be smaller individually but have similar numbers of unsold.
Now this all being said, it's all also conjecture, going on what I know about retail and accounting.
Concluding that this argument is masturbation, it seems like you're all screwing someone, but in the end you're actually screwing yourselves.
I think I agree with everything you said 100%. It's the best post I've read since I've been here (that's not mine, of course!).
You hit the hammer on the nail with your comments on retail... there is no way in hell any Best Buy is stocking 200+ Xbox 360's, from a financial prospective that is pure lunacy. Markets change and prices change far too much to stock 200 of a $300-$400 item.
And, while I realize that none of this is provable (we'll never get an exact number), I enjoy the debate as I've heard many outrageous and hilarious things since I've been hanging out here. It's been well worth my time.
