Sony’s and Microsoft’s numbers: Fact or Fiction?
Can numbers really lie?
One can’t help but really chuckle every time one of these top dogs releases some numbers, may it be console numbers, sales, online service clients, whatever; only to be met by another such announcement from whoever wasn’t first. I guess they both need to reassure their clients that they “are not losing”. But there’s is something fishy about some numbers released and I intend to get to the bottom of it.
Numbers can lie! Sorry but i needed to open with that, make sure no one is on the wrong page here. Numbers can lie, they are not set in stone and whatever truth they hold can be manipulated into a seemingly truth but a lie nonetheless. Want a clear cut example? Go here.
Now that we got that out of the way, there are numbers from these two companies I am very concerned about; from Sony, as doubt was raised by Microsoft’s UK Xbox Chief, y would like to know if Sony is manipulating the numbers or not. Think about it this way, one can have as many accounts as he or she likes in a PS3; so is Sony counting every account on every PS3 or just one account per machine? If it’s the later then that means something like 98% of all PS3 owners have a PSN account, something that at this day and at age it’s still something difficult to believe.
I wonder if Patton or Romel thought charts were battlefields as well?
However Sony is not the only one that’s toying around with it’s numbers, what about Microsoft? Well they claim to have sold over 28 million consoles right? But out of all those consoles, how many are hardware malfunction replacements? Ah “Hardware Malfunction” doesn’t it sound better than RROD, E74 Error and the new adjective “bricked”? Sadly many proud xbox owners are faced sooner or later with the experience of having RROD, some even have it multiple times; and if we are to believe people posting on forums and such, then there are many people on their 3rd and 4th consoles. So the new remplacements, if you are lucky to get a new one and not refurbished one, do they count in the sales total? After all it’s a console derived to client isn’t it? There is also some people that are not covered by the warranty, the 3 years expired or in some rare cases because their XBOX died of something else than RROD ( basically if it’s something else than RROD you are screwed, however you can screw them back by making it RROD. Go here for suggestions on how) So should they count because they bought their console TWICE?
I know what you are thinking,” so what if Sony counted some more users or if Microsoft squeezed some double XBOXs in there, it’s not like they are going to make a difference in the final number”. And my response is, that’s not the point; the point is that in a self persecuted slightly paranoid way; we are being lied to. And that’s something i for one, don’t like. Plus you never know what difference they can make until someone does count them out.
Well I guess we will continue to see numbers thrown around, from both sides of the fence, never really knowing EXACTLY what they mean. At least we know that if someone is lying, then everybody is; because after all, you always have to match up to the competition.
UPDATE: As someone pointed out elsewhere, PSN accounts include those set up through the PSP and the web interface; so that does make the numbers much more believable. It would be interesting to see how many accounts were created through each one of the interfaces though…
reynanuy on 
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Sony clearly stated their numbers were for unique registered PSN accounts.
Well is what i have to say about the number of accounts: I personally know of alot of people that have a 360 and have 3 or more accounts on one 360 so you can get multiple accounts on the same 360 as well as PS3 but also Sony now requires you to have a PSN account to post on their blog so even people with out a PS3 can have a PSN account now.
That is an interesting point about the 360 and if they are counted the number NEW 360 that they have given out as being sold because I am sure they have given out a million or so new 360s because of the RRoD fiasco
Well Sony is including the PSP with the PS3, there are people that have PSN accounts that only own a PSP. So therefore the total number of accounts on PSN isn’t only from PS3 its a combination of both PSP and PS3 PSN accounts. So 20 million plus PSN users is easy since there are probably over 30 million PSPs sold out there in the world plus the 20 or so million PS3s. Do a little research before trying to make excuses on why Sony would be lying about the PSN account totals.
i dont think microsoft was faking there numbers other wise the software side would show a huge drop in sales sony on the other hand i would not be suprised
Sony already said they count multiple accounts on Ps3,PsP,the websites.
I also have multiple 360 accounts.
a replacement would not be counted as a sale chiefly because it did not come from a retailer. as i’m sure you know, or at least you should to even attempt journalism, research is the key. Microsoft, does not sell its own product, third parties sell it to the consumers (Gamestop, Best Buy, Target, etc.) You can’t go to Xbox’s website and purchase a 360; they only provide a list of trusted retailers (under the WHERE TO BUY section). Consoles sent out as replacements by Microsoft are not counted in sales numbers, because they were never in the sales market at retail. The sales numbers do not come from Microsoft, they come from retail chains who report their sales to the NPD and other consumer/retail market researcher companies. These companies in turn report their findings to the manufacturers, providing them with information on comsumer trends and retail trends- what we like, how much we will spend on it, what we hate, whats hot and whats not. The manufacturers responds with marketing, new products, price drops etc. FACT is apparently you have a personal grudge against Microsoft and attempt to disguise it as journalism. But suggesting that Microsoft has anything to do with NPD numbers gathered from retailers, and not from Microsoft as you are claiming, is rubbish. ABSOLUTE FICTION.
Upon releasing that “20 million registered PSN users” statement Sony IMMEDIATELY noted that those accounts were made up of PS3 users, PSP users AND user who registered on Playstation.com. So they’re not trying to “Decieve” anyone.
Microsoft are also guilty of those same tactics regarding their online service however. Those 17 million Xbox LIVE accounts include multiple accounts and they also include both Gold AND Silver accounts. So while Microsoft may have you believe that they are making serious money off of that number of accounts, the truth is only half of those 17 million actually PAY to use the service.
@mjb
So you are saying that Microsoft’s numbers on Xbox 360 consoles does not come from the company itself but from an independent source; i beg to differ on that.
http://store.microsoft.com/microsoft/Xbox-360-Elite-Bundle/product/3F43FC7C
Microsoft selling the Xbox 360 directly? That does seem to imply that they DO provide data to the NPD. In fact if i remember correctly, there was a news post over at n4g.com stating that Microsoft was opening a new local retail store for ALL their products.
Now let’s consider the NPD itself. As per the NPD data flow model, their numbers not only on retailer but mainly on distributors; which can choose to participate or not. So if Microsoft participates, they can supply their numbers to the NPD. The whole thing is merely a GLIMPSE an ESTIMATION, one that does not seem to be as good as before.
http://www.orbitcast.com/archives/xm-npd-data-is-increasingly-less-relevant.html
And to finish up, I have NOTHING agains Microsoft. Yes, of course due to my background on software engineering; I know all Windows’ crap joke there is, but that doesn’t mean I have something against them or their products. Moreover I would like to know, what lead you to believe that? I mean I don’t consider this article an “attack” on Microsoft; I think of it more of a piece on the industry, the “information” it provides to us and how it affects the competition. I don’t know, maybe you read the article you “wanted” to read…
@David MacphailNo
Yes, they do mention the sources(i have updated the article on the same) But they don’t say, as per my knowledge, if their unique and/or how many come from each interface. If we knew how many were PS3 made, that would enable us to do a “fair” estimated comparison with Microsoft numbers. However, as Justin said, there also multiple accounts in Microsoft numbers as well.
@Emitsu
Can you please point to where exactly Sony said the numbers were for unique accounts and how do they know this?
Sony’s numbers - like Microsoft’s - include multiple accounts however they have not posted how many accounts were created on the PS3/PSP/internet individually.
see that is the thing i dont know how you would really tell if they are unique accounts or not or if they would really care. they could probably tell if the accounts came from the same house or network or w/e but who is to say they dont have more than one person playing or more than one console. even if they could see how many are on each console how do they know that they dont have 2 or more people playing and they all want their own account.
i would also like to see the numbers for just the PS3 PSP and the blogs if they could do that but they prob wont.
and I in no way see this article as an attack on Sony or Microsoft just a simple examination of the numbers that they are releasing