My Analysis of the Ps3 Numbers.

[theprof00]

ioi said:

@theprof

Personally (and this is where people accuse me of bias or whatever) I think Sony's definition of "sold" to retail must include things like replacement units or demo units or something that we aren't classing as a "sale". The fact we are 7-8m lower on PS2 and PSP as well would support this idea. They used to report "production shipments" which was 2-3m units higher still each quarter and definitely included every single unit that left the production line, but supposedly changed to "ship-in" or "sold to retail" a few years back to move in line with Nintendo and Microsoft. Problem is that I still don't think they have moved in line and their figures are inflated for some reason.

The bottom line is that I don't have a definitive answer to your question, just theories.

All I know is that we estimate sell-through and that compared to everyone else our figures line up. Why it seems that there are 3m PS3 units that have been sold by Sony but not in the hands of consumers and 7-8m PS2 and PSP units is something I don't have an answer for, but I'm pretty sure that our figures are an accurate representation of how many units have actually been purchased by consumers at retail.

I've been saying the same thing in other threads ie they've been counting the airforce sales or sales to other institutions. Although it's just a theory, I'm glad to know that such possibilities are considered on your part as well.

Also, I've been wondering if there might be a price drop in the rest of the world coming up. That coupled with the numerous high-profile games about to release makes me think that there are a lot stockpiles hanging out somewhere.

Thanks for the reply!