I hate to reraise this thing that is exercising JohnLucas so much .... but here goes nothing. I think that you are overselling the importance of this issue, and here's why. Only in the very short term do companies get an advantage on misleading investors and public about the difference between sold to retailers and to consumers. Because almost all the time, the job of selling to retailers (which is what affects a manufacturer's bottom line directly) is maximised by making consumers go out and buy the things. So most of the time, maximimising sales to consumers and to retailers are pretty similar tasks. There are exceptions when companies stuff the channel (and Microsoft have been alleged to do this with Xbox 360). So I am not defending Sony if they obfuscated this. But I am saying it's not something to get worked up about. And nope, no idea why I have posted this. There you go.

 What were figures for the PS1 in comparison to that, becuase the PS1 had similar success to the PS2.

The PS1 is a little difficult to gauge simply because data is harder to come by. The overall video game market was smaller for sure. Also it's more difficult to assess the supply situation simply because I can't seem to find comparable statistics.