MS publishes it's numbers because it's the leader. That's what the leader does.
Then all the sheep proclaim the leader as number one because there is just no competition.
Sony obviously does not have the online community that MS has been cultivating since the XBOX1.
Therefore, it is stupid for Sony to compete in a numbers game when it is only going to point out that it is less. So, Sony opts for a lack of information strategy, so that nobody, not the reporters, not MS, nobody knows what the numbers are. In this way Sony can still compete on the topic of online community because nobody is really sure what the numbers are either way.
Nobody is sad, or tired, or pitiful or anything. These are marketing strategies of the two companies as they vie for the stronger position. They are both very textbook strategies.
So stop arguing and try to remember that while Sony is being a little evasive on the subject, it highlights MS' own evasiveness in their own published numbers.
