Sony stated that what they reported as sold is all recorded sales by retailers. That means all consoles ordered by 12/31/2009. So on the last day of the year XYZ retailer order 100K PS3s that dont ship until sometime in 2010 are counted. How many other PS3s fall into that category? We dont know.
OK so that is part of it. No one is saying that 3 million PS3s sit on store shelves. What Sony said was they have been ordered by retailers. So that means some havent been made, some havent actually shipped out and some are on boats, trucks, and trains in transport. So that means some sit on store shelves all over the world.
I also guaranteed that post December the retailers are not ordering 1 PS3 for every 1 of the PS3s they sell. They will let the quantity on hand knowing they wont sell as many and knowing Sony will have more closer to the retail outlets and if a run happens it will be easier to get replenishments.
Its libraries that sell systems not a single game.
