http://press.nintendo.com/articles.jsp?id=11995 http://press.nintendo.com/articles.jsp?id=12153 Nintendo often refers to NPD or Media Create numbers in there reports such as these two. Unofrtunately I can't find any Japanese sources confirming the Media Create side of things but... The first link may not work as it was the March sales but googling 'press.nintendo.com March' brought up this description... "April 19, 2007 - Nintendo once again claimed the top two spots among the best-selling new video game systems in America in March, according to independent ..." and there is an almost identical line in the second link that finishes this sentence with "...sales data gathered by the NPD Group..." That should at least prove the US sales are indeed sell-through numbers.

 Actually they can. 

Nintendo used to require retailers to track every single unit and report the serial numbers of the systems as they sold (that was how the warrenty was started).  I remember on the NES and the Gameboy there was a big white card attached to the box that the retailer removed, filled out, then sent to Nintendo when the system sold.  I can't remember the last Nintendo system that I had to give my name and address to the casher but it has been a while.  Nintendo has relaxed the requirements but still requires retailers to provide sales data.  Nintendo KNOWS how many systems they are selling well before anyone else does. 

 A few years ago I worked at a regional retailer that sold video games and the Nintendo games and consoles did not come through on a standard truck but were shipped to the store directly from a Nintendo warehouse.  Both Microsoft and Sony's games and systems came through the chains distribuition centers only Nintendo's were shipped in directly.  Not sure if this is just standard for Nintendo products at most stores or if it was just that chain but that would also provide a lot of information to Nintendo.

Zucas, Sony is not overshipping. They have the biggest retail presence. It's changing now, but in the last 10 years retailers were well advised to stock Playstation first and that's why sony had the largest gap between "sold to retail" and "sold to consumers". The second issue, as has been mentioned, was that Sony emphasized "left the factory" figures which left an even bigger gap. Quantum-Tarantino, It's a myth perpetuated by the internets. Check Nintendo's reports at http://www.nintendo.co.jp/kessan/english.html . They would probably be kicked off the stock market if they didn't report their actual sales which are "sold to retail".

TalonMan,

 If there are only 240,000 consoles sitting on the shelves in Japan, Nintendo needs to learn how to stock. 

Bodhesatva, How many units would you expect to sit on shelves? Remember - this is about the Gamecube, which flopped right from the start - it's March, not December - it's only for Japan, not worldwide

I'd guess 1-2 million. Specifically because it did not do so well. The PS3, for example, has over 2 million consoles sitting on shelves right now. 

Bodhesatva,

Ah, I just checked and I see what you mean. So VGC just needs to update the shipped figures for the end of May I guess. I guess I've never seen VGC give a two month lagg on their stats so I thought it was fairly recent shipped numbers. OK, on we go to watching when the 360 reaches the 10 Million sell through mark.

Not that I'm doubting you TalonMan, but I couldn't find anywhere in that document that talked about GCN sales, only GBA and DS.