| binary solo said: Actually AFAIK the big 3 all report the same these days: shipped to retail. None of the big 3 report sold to consumer, because, well, nobody nows this number accurately down to the last console. And when companies report sales figures for financial reporting purposes they can't report estimates, they have to report actual number of units sold. The only numbers they can report accurately are the number of consoles that leave the factory floor (but at that point they are stock on hand in the console maker's inventory), and the number of consoles they invoice to THEIR customers, meaning retailers/independant distributors. |
Comparing Sony with Microsoft for simplicity here, from what I know of the two and I may be wrong!:
You have to remember that Sony and Microsoft are completely different entities and the way they record shipments are completely different. Sony are a traditional manufacturer so they record sales as they get them. If for instance they get 3M PS3 orders they will record the revenue in the quarter they take the order, hence shipments for them are orders. Microsoft on the other hand books shipments in the quarter they are actually fulfilled. Their business model doesn't rely on inventory, if they sell 20M more Windows 7 operating systems this quarter they don't ship 20M discs. They book the revenue and hence shipments in the quarter that they are actually fulfilled. When they pre-sold Windows 7 to retail for instance, they deferred that revenue to the actual launch of the operating system.
P.S. All financial statements are meant to be accurate estimates.
Tease.
