Just a quick question. Please only answer if you know what you're talking about.

How does Microsoft calcuate its sales figures for the Xbox 360? I believe they announce shipped figures as opposed to sold (Sony does the opposite) so I'm just wondering how we know the actual console sales numbers. And as a side question, does Microsoft count RRoD 360s that they fixed in their sales figures?

Thanks to anyone who can clear things up for an ignorant user.

Sold = Shipped and received to retailers.

Broken 360 = 1 360
Repaired 360 = The same 360

Both Microsoft and Sony report the consoles sold to retailers

Microsoft is probably doing a lot of QQing after Gamescom, if you know what I mean. Hur hur hur!

MS reports figures exactly the same way Sony and Nintendo does. Sold to retailers aka shipped.

Uh, how long have you been here?

http://kotaku.com/5327502/lifetime-sales-figures-for-the-playstation-3

"In 2006, Sony decided to start tracking how many consoles and games they sold all the way through to customers, not just to retailers (which is how most other companies record "sales")."

I'm asking a simple question. Don't insult my intelligence.

Because that wasn't my main point or question. My question was pertaining to Microsoft and its calculations with sales and how we would know actual consoles sold to consumers as opposed to the shipped to retailers. The Sony thing was a small part in the equation. Perhaps NPD or something like that is what I was expecting as an answer. A lot of sites have the same debate up and it goes on for pages and pages really going no where so I made a new topic here hoping for a direct answer.

I do enjoy this site, but I don't visit it every day nor do I look through even the majority of threads. I have been here for a few years now and I only have 300+ posts. I'm not exactly a hardcored reg so excuse me if I don't know the run down. That is why I'm asking the questions.

There's a difference between itelligence and ignorance.

Kotaku screwed that up and got it wrong. Sony didn't change to tracking through to consumers, they changed to tracking sold to retailers (or sony's consumer)

Back before 2006 Sony used to report in their financial statements how many units they had produced and stuck in a warehouse. In 2006 they changed to sold, which is how Microsoft and Nintendo report in their financial statements. When a corporation reports sales in a financial statement they must report sales to retailers (or whoever directly purchases from them). The reason for this is that financial statements must be fact, and not estimates, like NPD or VGChartz numbers.

The change in method also caused a lot of confusion on the lifetime PS2 numbers. By switching from produced to sold they double counted every unit sitting in a warehouse when they made the switch. So if you add up all the financial statements you actually come up with a number larger than the actual number of units produced. This is why there were large arguments over the PS2 selling 140m units which was also a slipup by whoever said it. The latest figure I've heard from Sony on the PS2 is 138m units and this is over a year after the whole 140m units debate.

When ioi made that statement people were accusing him of anti sony bias and tracking the numbers wrong. SMC is asking a legitimate question and not accusing the site of being wrong. There is a big difference. There is no reason for him to be banned.

Also, don't insult others or it will results in a ban. Not everyone is capable of reading every thread writtin on these forums, and with sites like Kotaku spreading misinformation people will have questions.

About your other question, I don't think MS count's refurbs as sold, since they are just repaired, if they did I think VGChartz numbers would be way out of line with MS numbers.