BaldrSkies on 03 February 2013
Official sales figures = number of units shipped = number of units "sold" to retailers, hence earnings counted for Nintendo. This isn't the same as the number of units sold to end consumers. There will always be copies sitting in reseller shelves and warehouses. All companies do this because A. it looks better and B. they don't want to waste the resources asking and counting actual sales and discounting returns from tens of thousands of retailers worldwide.
