VGChartz Wii U Software Sales Update?

[ZyroXZ2]

RolStoppable said:

ZyroXZ2 said:

Yup, just saw that it says it includes "downloadable versions".

Also, if they include digital with shipped, that can't be correct... Manufacturers don't always use shipped-only figures (they're perfectly capable of getting sales numbers for their own products), and if they're including digital, digital is a "sold" unit.  Combining sold and unsold units wouldn't be professional, no?

I think those numbers are actual sales, versus "shipped"... I could be wrong, but nothing screams "shipped" in that document...  And they have to be pretty clear about stuff like that for financial reports...

A shipped unit is a sold unit for Nintendo, just like a digital copy. Retailers buy from Nintendo, so Nintendo already got the money for their product, even if it still sits on store shelves. Whereas with a digital copy the money comes straight from the consumer. So in both cases Nintendo was already paid for their product, therefore it's not an incorrect way to report the figures in a financial statement, but the correct way.

Hmmm, perhaps this is where my misunderstanding was.  I knew retailers purchased stock, but thought they paid out a portion of their profit to the manufacturer once the item has sold.  I was always under the impression that retailers purchased stock at very low, volume prices, and then had to essentially split their profit with the manufacturer based on a percentage or cap set in a contract with the manufacturer.

I figured a manufacturer wouldn't count something as "sold" until they saw their cut from the sale, I didn't know that manufacturers were just selling them for resale by a retailer.