This is why I just love this site these days! Seriously how the hell did this thread go downhill so fast. Kowen, thanks for putting it up, really informative.

Bleh people need to lighten up, it is no secret that Kowen praises anything and everything MS however at least he's not Nsanity who has an agenda (quite frankly not sure why he isn't banned for a long time for his flame threads).

OT: I am still seeing this go Sony's way and the PS3 has been constantly outselling the competition world wide for a bit now. However, for some reason the UK and the US seem to be blinded by the almighty M$ which in terms of exclusives has put out subpar products in comparison to the competition but its strength is in having been out first on the market and being the AMERICAN product (although made in China rofl). 360 was one of those products that sold because "my friends have one so "i wants to play HALO 3 with my pwnsorrz friends!" and the UK has followed the US' trend for some odd reason, although it was a smart move by M$. Personally I wouldn't pay to play online but to each his own and they find value in it so that is what ultimately matters. The Wii is just an anomally that I feel doesn't deserve to be ahead as much as it is but then again they have the blue ocean to thank for that. On another side, alot of the DS's sales are deserved but on content, I feel the PSP should have been equal or even surpassed it, but again, just release a pokemon game and it sells gangbusters (imo subpar rpg and i could name 35 on other systems that blow it out the water). This gen has been a wierd one indeed, but it is good for putting fire in Sony's ass because now they have focused heavily on 1st and 2nd party therefore we have gems such as: Demon's Souls, WKC, Resistance series, Uncharted series, KZ series, LBP, 3D Dot game Heroes, Heavy Rain, GoW, InFamous, Mod Nation Racers, anything Housemarque (Superstardust HD/Dead Nation), WarHawk, MAG, MLB The Show, etc, pretty much a game for every taste and still more to come. So yes Leo-J do not be upset, we are the ones who have so many games and so little time.

So the next time someone tells me "i got pokemon" I simply bustout my Shin Megami Tensei games or my God Eater Burst and tell them to s.....k it. All in all every system has its gems so be happy there is competition or else there would be no improvements.

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What on earth was I thinking coming into this thread I expected mature discussion on the sales of consoles, not ever ending arguements about who over shipped or didn't. I guess thats too much to expect from VGC though.

Wow good job on the thread....very interesting !

Why should it surprise anyone? Everybody knows that the gaps before the adjustments were waaay bigger

Awesime thread like people have said

Surprisingly low all around ATM, especially Wii. New stock is needed quickly, far too litle in supply especially with the price cut...

But keep up the good work! Ignore what people are saying, you're doing a great job

Actually, the supply numbers seem reasonable to me. We're late in the console life, news (and buzz) is forming for the next gen of consoles, word of price cuts on current systems (and the Wii one has happened since the last numbers here), and a general approachment of saturation means that stores will want to start waning supply down. The Wii is a little low, but 2.5 weeks isn't a dangerously low inventory level. In fact, since it did actually have the change happen, coupling that with the previously considerably slower sales over the Wii's prior year, means that stores are naturally going to scale it back quickly, expecting a continuing decline.

That aside, it's nice to see where things are going, and I'm most interested in the daily supply watching. It really helps to show how the shipped vs sold numbers can be varied.

socom4
move heroes
motorstorm
killzone 3
littlebigplanet 2
DCU online

these were supposed to shift consoles?

Sony spends more in marketing than anyone??

Halo Reach's marketing campaign was over 6.5 million.
Kinect is 500$ over the course of 5 quarters. That's 100million per quarter...roughly the equivalent of 10 AAA games in 15 months.

can you prove any of that?

Sony has commercials, but MS has just as many. And if that weren't fair enough, most every multiplat game ad I see gets branded with the jump in logo at the end, like it's not even a multiplat game!

At this time of year, I would say yes. Retailers order much less to sell down any excessive stock left over from the holidays. (Note the stock levels from Dec. 31- only a few weeks stock, but entering a much slower sales period.)

The way I see things (though I don't know how the industry itself does) is this: I'd allow 3 days transit from company to warehouse, and another 3 days from warehouse to store. Most stores get at least 1 delivery per week, so 1 week's supply in the store plus one week total in the transit system means that I would want to see at least a 2 week supply in the wild. Anything less, and I think there would be sellouts.

Now, looking at the current numbers. You will note that I did express some thought that the Wii's number was low. At that stock level, my guess is that there are sporadic isolated cases of the Wii being sold out at a few stores. I would also guess that Nintendo, planning the upcoming price cut, tipped retailers off to keep stock levels low for an upcoming change this quarter. A new SKU would make selling older SKUs harder, so Nintendo intentionally aimed to keep the old stock low. (That, and the sooner people have to get the new SKU, the better of a chance there is to sell the new Wii Sports game SKU.)

Both Sony and Microsoft being closer to a month's supply I think is ideal for retailers. A common term of sale, that I've heard all 3 companies use, is about 1% 10, net 30. This means that a retailer must remit 1% of the invoice total within 10 days of the shipment, and the full bill is due in 30 days from shipment. When the manufacturer is paid by day 30, ideally, most, if not all, the merchandise is already sold, to allow the cash flow for the retailer. (Things which you can't depend on being sold out in 30 days with these terms are usually sold at better margins for the retailer- look at clothing.) Having too much inventory, let's say 40 days worth, means that when the bill is due in 30, you've only sold 3/4 your inventory. The small margin on consoles means that the difference in monies not seen from sold consoles needs to come from another source. (To put this in numbers, say I had ordered 40 3DS systems {Net retail- $10,000. Net wholesale- $9500.} I will owe $95 to Nintendo within 10 days. Easy- I see more than $100 revenue from selling one- and I sell on average, one every day. But, by day 30, I owe Nintendo another $9405. I just sold 3DS #30, for total revenues of $7500. Where does this other $1905 come from? I have to get it somehow, and in the meanwhile, it's sitting there in my 10 other unsold 3DS systems.) If I have no other income, I've just defaulted. (For the record, I used Nintendo because they are the only one I actually know the wholesale on. All I know about both Sony and MS is that they are both worse margins.)

Sure, there will be exceptions to things- Sony might offer me a deal on the wholesale, but only for net 10 terms. Microsoft may want to encourage a promotional display, and offer me 10% 30, net 90 terms. In the former case, if I have the cash availiable, I may wish to take advantage of it, since I do know that I can eventually sell the systems (assuming I don't go completely overboard), and a favorable wholesale means that I get more profit in the long term. For the latter, the favorable terms in exchange for the display means that I have access to more money for a longer period of time, and can use that to make more money. (Or, in a case of irony, use the revenue from the latter to take advantage of the former deal.)

So I really can't fault retailers for these current stock levels. It's a slow time of year, and there's not much on the plate telling me that sales will increase. (Well, except for something Nintendo is planning, but that's not availiable to me at these numbers' time.) If there were visable widespread shortages, then I'd see reason to blame them. As things stand now, I have to call it smart business sense, esepcially in the current global economy.