By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Sales Discussion - When will PS4 reach 10 million sold? - ioi comments on undertracking

Burek on 19 August 2014
Conegamer said:

You know, I have to say that I'm a little embarrassed by some users in this thread. VGC has never claimed to be 100% accurate, ioi has stated on multiple occasions that his methods are based on extrapolation and identifying trends, and now he comes into this thread to try and reason and be transparent (something he didn't need to do, but he's making us aware that he knows the problem and is working towards fixing it), with reasoning which makes sense, and all you guys can do are attack him for that? That's a little shameful. If you can't appreciate the way the site works or the site owner, in my opinion perhaps you need to find a new site to visit.


This is the way VGC has always done it. We know it isn't 100% accurate, but it gives us a vague idea. Also, for the regions which people actually seem to care about (Japan, US and Europe), we know that two of those three are almost perfect, so where's the issue here? I just appreciate getting the numbers, knowing they aren't completely accurate, rather than getting nothing at all. Maybe that's just me.

Well, those two regions are only almost perfect because VGC uses other companies' data to report sales or to adjust them afterwards. Europe is the problem because VGC doesn't have any official numbers at steady intervals to make timely adjustments.

I honestly have nothing against ioi or the site, I find the forums excellent and enjoy being here, but without the forums and good, quality members, I would not be using this website at all. I appreciate an effort put into data collecting, but it seems to lack in reliability.

But, I was hugely disappointed to learn today than one of the metrics for sales extrapolation was the number of PSN/XBL accounts created across regions. That must be one of the leading causes of severe mistakes and miscalculations, as I already wrote earlier in this thread.



Around the Network
Rab on 19 August 2014
binary solo said:
Rab said:
Blood_Tears said:
It already sold 10 million "to consumers"....


I think Sony in the past has called stores their "consumers" if it suits them 

Evidence?


 I just remember them using that line in the PS3 days, and it was revealed later to be retailers , maybe that's why that tried to make it so "clear" what they ment this time



Rab on 19 August 2014
overman1 said:
Rab said:
Blood_Tears said:
It already sold 10 million "to consumers"....


I think Sony in the past has called stores their "consumers" if it suits them 

Maybe you should pay attention to what he said. he clearly stated  that the Sony PS4 has sold 10 million consoles through to consumers. The he paused and continued "let me be clear, this isnt shipped or sold to retailers." " the Playstation 4 has 10 million units now sitting in peoples homes"

I really dont know how much clearer one can be with that statement. There is even a written statement on their site about this. 

Has Sony every lied about sales before? Hell no so why start now when they are very much in the lead and could have easy hit 10 million by september with Denstiny.  Why lie now?

Thanks for the clarification, I just remember them having this same line back with the PS3 when it wasn't doing too good, maybe that's why they are being so clear with what they ment 



Xenostar on 19 August 2014
loy310 said:
I agree with ioi, and if anyone takes this site seriously they should also. VGC need to find where to plug the hole so they can not only adjust the official numbers but so they can also adjust how they calculate sales for that part of the world.

Makes no sense for them to adjust the numbers while at the same time not adjust their formula for whichever region they are coming up short simply because they don't know where they are coming up short. They would just end up being off every week if they took such a blind approach.


Also makes no sense to have the numbers wrong on the chart on the front page, when its widley publisised at being 10M on every other gaming site. 

At least the total should be right for people visiting even if the break down is off for now till they can figure it out. 

Else any new people to the site will take one look and think, poor tracking and move on. 



Nicklesbe on 19 August 2014

Why not have 2 colors on the chart in a single bar? Have a background color that's much darker that reads official numbers and then have a lighter color in front that says numbers tracked so far.



http://www.youtube.com/v/AoOOpLpcF28 http://www.youtube.com/v/CphFZGH5030

All Hail the Jester King. The King is back, and I am still a dirty girl prof ;)

Around the Network
Ucell on 19 August 2014

I'm sure PS4 is selling a lot better in India than VGC numbers make it seem, I mean I live in India and I know there is quite some PS4 momentum here despite its retail price of $667 and its individual games costing $67.



ThatDanishGamer on 19 August 2014
Conegamer said:

You know, I have to say that I'm a little embarrassed by some users in this thread. VGC has never claimed to be 100% accurate, ioi has stated on multiple occasions that his methods are based on extrapolation and identifying trends.
This is the way VGC has always done it. We know it isn't 100% accurate, but it gives us a vague idea. Also, for the regions which people actually seem to care about (Japan, US and Europe), we know that two of those three are almost perfect, so where's the issue here? I just appreciate getting the numbers, knowing they aren't completely accurate, rather than getting nothing at all. Maybe that's just me.

That's how I look at the vgcharts. Trends that show xbox is currently falling and PS4 staying high.



Don't copy random editorials.

Nate4Drake on 19 August 2014
Slade6alpha said:
... Isn't it already 10 million sold. Just has't been updated on VGC.

Yep, PS4 already passed the 10m Mark, just VGC didn't update.  Hopefully they will do it soon, hopefully...



”Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”

Harriet Tubman.

AZWification on 19 August 2014

The numbers will get updated soon enough....... I hope!



                
       ---Member of the official Squeezol Fanclub---

Yakuzaice on 19 August 2014
ioi said:

USA, Canada, Mexico and South America, UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Benelux, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Russia, Australia, New Zealand or Japan

Our data for the regions we track as listed above for PS4 adds up to around 9.0m which should be accurate to +/- 100k.

I'm not really sure on what basis you can say VGC numbers are within 100k for those countries.  Do you actually have data from trackers for all of those countries through August 10th?

ioi said:

As for Germany, we are about 40k lower, we might be 20k too low in France and the UK vs GFK but we are 110k higher than NPD as of the end of July in the USA (3.87m vs 3.76m) so overall that cancels out. As I say, I am happy with our ~9m figure for The Americas and Europe and I have a hard time finding 1m sales in the remaining regions as most are so small or generally don't buy a new console in large numbers until 2-3 years down the line once prices start to fall.

40k lower as of the end of June, there are another 6 weeks between that and the 10 million number.  It was also somewhere between 60 and 70k when the number came out.  I'm not sure if other European numbers saw a slight adjustment since then as well, but if they are all off by the same percentage as Germany post adjustment, that would be ~261k in Europe.  That would be as of the end of June as well, so potentially more now.  Why do you assume France and the UK are more accurate than Germany?  Do you have current GFK numbers?  If so, why are they off by maybe 20k?

Also, shouldn't the goal be to have accurate numbers per country, not to have the errors cancel each other out?  Now the July NPD numbers weren't too long ago so I can see why they haven't been updated, but the PS4 was only overtracked by 18k last month, and undertracked by ~70k the month before.  So why is it sitting at 110k overtracked now.  Actually from what I can tell, the majority of that overtrack is from 2013.  VGC is about 73k higher than NPD numbers for Nov/Dec.

I just don't see how you can say the 9m in those countries is accurate within 100k based on the various trackers when VGC has large differences with the trackers dating back months.