Nobody thinks that Sony's tracking is less accurate. But there's a difference between thinking the company's internal tracking is less accurate and thinking that Sony's PR isn't accurate.

ioi's post is quite reasonable - he says, very specifically, that it's unclear where the discrepancy is coming from. But when VGChartz's tracking agrees within a good degree of accuracy with the local tracking by various other companies (like NPD), and Sony's claim thus relies on either...

1. All of the tracking companies being inaccurate,
2. Sony seeing remarkable levels of success in areas not typically known for being big on console gaming (like Hong Kong or Africa) to the tune of 10% of their total sales (rather than about 4% as seen with previous generations), or
3. Sony rounding their numbers to make their PR sound stronger.

People who suspect that Sony rounded the numbers probably think that it might be a bit from each of these, combined. Perhaps it's actually at 9.6 million sold-through and 10.3 million shipped, with tracking companies being a little low and those other regions seeing stronger sales than in previous generations.

Which do you find more trustworthy? A company that has internal numbers that nobody gets to see releasing PR announcing a round milestone achieved just at the start of a major press event, or a group that releases all of their numbers and benchmarks them against other tracking companies (and is open and honest about their methods)?

This isn't to say that Sony isn't trustworthy in general. But a grain of salt is always healthy when dealing with a company whose numbers (which, to be clear, can't be 100% accurate any more than NPD or Famitsu can - note that even Nintendo uses NPD data when talking about sell-through of their hardware) are internal only, and is released as PR rather than in an official statement (as in, financial reports and the like).

Nobody thinks that Sony's tracking is less accurate. But there's a difference between thinking the company's internal tracking is less accurate and thinking that Sony's PR isn't accurate.

ioi's post is quite reasonable - he says, very specifically, that it's unclear where the discrepancy is coming from. But when VGChartz's tracking agrees within a good degree of accuracy with the local tracking by various other companies (like NPD), and Sony's claim thus relies on either...

1. All of the tracking companies being inaccurate,
2. Sony seeing remarkable levels of success in areas not typically known for being big on console gaming (like Hong Kong or Africa) to the tune of 10% of their total sales (rather than about 4% as seen with previous generations), or
3. Sony rounding their numbers to make their PR sound stronger.

People who suspect that Sony rounded the numbers probably think that it might be a bit from each of these, combined. Perhaps it's actually at 9.6 million sold-through and 10.3 million shipped, with tracking companies being a little low and those other regions seeing stronger sales than in previous generations.

Which do you find more trustworthy? A company that has internal numbers that nobody gets to see releasing PR announcing a round milestone achieved just at the start of a major press event, or a group that releases all of their numbers and benchmarks them against other tracking companies (and is open and honest about their methods)?

This isn't to say that Sony isn't trustworthy in general. But a grain of salt is always healthy when dealing with a company whose numbers (which, to be clear, can't be 100% accurate any more than NPD or Famitsu can - note that even Nintendo uses NPD data when talking about sell-through of their hardware) are internal only, and is released as PR rather than in an official statement (as in, financial reports and the like).

Evidence of this in the gaming industry....

This is what confuses me the most about people who doubt Sony's statement. Does Apple know how many Ipods/Iphone they sell? How does companies keep track of their sold through units and why should this be any different for Sony Playstation?

Also, it is silly to believe that manufacturers dont know how many units of a products are being sold thorugh to consumers. If demand for a product is not has high as supply is, how would a manufacturer know not to produce as many product to aviod a deficit? Does any one here really think Sony does not get sales invoice and accounts from the retailers who sell their product? If Sony were to give Gamestop a million units and Gamestop sells 950,000 of these units in a week. Do you think Sony wont get a record of this and know to supply Gamestop a certain number of units next. How is it so hard to believe that SOny mgiht be more accurate about their own product than an independent, not alway accurate site like VGChartz?

Really not going to take the time to sift through google right now.  But hey, if you think that pr companies are always 100% truthful, that's your business.