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Killiana1a on 23 October 2010
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Nomad Blue said:
Killiana1a said:

As for "SHIPPED FIGURE IS SOLD," yes it was sold to the retailer, not to the individual consumer. This is important because stores have inventories, while individual consumers don't (unless we are speaking of the Italian mafia and cigarettes like in Goodfellas). Henceforth, SHIPPED FIGURE IS SOLD TO RETAILER NOT NECESSARILY EACH AND EVERY SHIPPED SOLD TO INDIVIDUAL CONSUMER to use your tone.

As for trusting the credibility of sources, the best thing I learned from a Master's degree and 7 years of college is never to take numbers at face value. Those who have a financial interest in the numbers dictate to their numbers analysts what they want them to say, which is pushed on down the communication line to managers and spokesman.

It is in Sony's best interest to conflate shipped and sold to retailers as shipped and sold to individual consumers. Same standard is applied to numbers from Microsoft, Nintendo and each and every invested industry interest. Numbers will be inflated and conflated because doing so causes hype.

The only numbers I trust are 1st party numbers verified from 3rd party industry trackers such as NPD and VGChartz. So yes, I do trust Sony's and every other vested interest's numbers after they have been collected, organized and analyzed by independent entities. The best way to alleviate a lot of doubt and skepticism is to create an independent, preferably governmental agency who tracks videogame sales along with music, movies and books. This way, with the annual budget process they don't have to be captured by industry in order to get their data in the first place; instead they can demand it with the full legal backing of the US Federal Government.

However, in this political climate with about a 3rd of the US population opposed to any governmental spending, if we had to rebuild the interstate highway system it would never get done because of conservative Republicans and Tea Party loons. Same thing with Hoover Dam, Bonneville Dam and all the other big infrastructure projects which brought such good to so many. Yet, I digress.

Yes, I know this.  Sony sell things to retailers, when they say sold, it's because they've sold an item.  This is a sale to Sony.  People seem to think Sony are trying to trick everyone into making them think their 'sold' is sold to consumers.  So, even when you have raw data presented, you shouldn't take those numbers at face value?

Where did Sony say that they sold to consumers?  You'll take VGChartz's numbers over Sony's(don't VGC adjust figures based on Sony's reports?)?  Even though VGC don't have any sources in the majority of territories Sony sell in?   I assume you've researched VGC's sales tracking methods?  Why do you want a goverment agency to track videogame sales?  Outside of internet fanboy wars, nobody gives a shit.  The majority of people are quite happy to use the figures from the various companies quarterly/annual reports.

Raw data is meaningless until it is collected and organized into information we can use. If Sony takes their data and turns it into information that can be verified through a 3rd party, then I have no problems with the source of the data. My skepticism pertains to internal data analysis, not data collection because in the "results" section, the way the data is presented, even if thorougly exhaustive to root out internal biases, still retains what the higher ups want to see and hear.

I do know of VGC's sales tracking methods and this is why I was so thoroughly upset with NPD not releasing monthly data anymore for free. Neither VGC nor NPD is perfect. Their numbers will always differ from the numbers Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft and every single publicly traded developer reports to the SEC in their financial statments. Hence, if you want 100% accuracy you have to wait a year to three for it to show in SEC filings.

As to their quarterly and annual reports, I trust them entirely because if they were fudging the numbers it would be outed by an independent watchdog and they may stand a chance to lose investors who they depend on.

We are closer in agreement to what we both may think. I tend to leave holes in my comments because I like replies. Furthermore, I appreciate your time in this matter because it enlivens the conversation and if not meaningful to one or both of us, it is meaningful to another who may not be as informed. Hell, I was not as informed as I thought I was until you replied. For that, I thank you :)