It amazes me how many people around here don't use these terms correctly, or don't fully understand them. It also does not surprise me that so many companies like Sony and Microsoft intermix these terms to make the sales of a product look better... knowing full well that most people just look at the number without thinking about it.
As such, I will break down the meaning of both terms, and give some words of warning in their interpretation when you read/watch that next press release boasting product sales.
"Units Shipped"(aka: shipped to vendors): This represents units of a product that are SOLD from the parent company (example Sony or Microsoft) to retailers (example - your local gaming store).
When MS says that it *shipped* 8 million Kinect units in 2010, it means that it SOLD 8 million kinect units to retailers. However, this number does NOT represent product bought by end-using customers (me and you), even if some ambitious fanboys or PR types would like you to think it does. But remember, as far as a companies financial statements are concerned... these are units sold, and the company has its money.
"Units Sold" (aka: sold to consumers): "Sold to consumers" means that a product has been sold from a vendor to a customer like you or I for personal use. The vendor makes it money off of the sale, but the producing company does not (it got its money when it sold the unit to the vendor). This number is important because it is a better representation of the true popularity of a product than units "shipped" since it represents actual product in actual end-consumer hands.
It should be noted that "sold" could have the same intended meaning as "shipped" as above, depending on the context, or what sales data was based on, thus it is a term that is often misused/abused (especially in PR events when a company is trying to give numbers that sound the most impressive).
*A word of warning*
In the wold of PR, companies want everyone to think that their product is the next best thing, and will often use whatever number looks the best (i.e. the largest number). A good example is of the reported "sales" of Kinect and Move. MS said that it sold 8 million Kinect by the end of December. This was later clarified to be units "shipped". Thus we still don't really know how many Kinect units are in the living rooms of consumers (a better representation of popularity). Still, this number can be useful, because if we know how many units were shipped say 3 months prior... you get an idea of how quickly vendors are selling their product.
A very confusing number was the 4.1 million units shipped (to vendors) that Sony used for Move earlier this Fall. At the same time, Microsoft reported 2.5 million Kinect units Sold (to end users). The Microsoft numbers were easy to understand, but the Move numbers were not. First, as we now know, shipped does not mean units in your living room, just units in stores. Second, Kinect is one component making one unit. Easy. Move has 3 components to make one unit. Was the 4.1 million that Sony reported based on numbers of components sold, or based on number of units (of 3) sold? Was a combo pack of all three units reported as one sale, or three sales? Was a single pack counted as an entire unit sale, or 1/3 of a unit? Sony did not say. Tricky. So depending on how Sony plays with the numbers, they could have sold as few as 1.37 moves (one unit being three components), or as many as 12.3 million units (1 unit representing 1/3 of the move controllers).
Also remember that units sold does not take into account for people who get a unit, but don't like it and stop using it/trade it in/sell it/etc. That is where the number of units software sold per console becomes valuable. And as PS3 fanboys will be quick to point out... units sold does not take into account for units that need to be replaced due to hardware failure.
Hope that helps.
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I was totally going to make a blog on this.
I find that people here constantly mix the words only when it benefits them.
Everything is so heavily said with a particular bias to encourage one brand over the other and to downplay the other. Like review scores, sales numbers are simply a means of having bragging rights. It's incredibly frustrating for me to get an accurate understanding around here because every time I ask, the words are constantly getting interchanged when it is beneficiary.
Regarding the Move numbers, everybody here was quick to say that Sony meant shipped after Sony said it was sold and after people assumed it meant sold to consumers. People around here tried to act as if they knew what Sony actually meant when in reality it was simply ambiguous PR talk. But now I read "only MS announces shipped numbers", and apparently Sony announces actual sold numbers to consumers, which is contradictory to the attitude people had about the Move numbers.
Want proof, I'll link it. I try to follow these numbers for fun but people love to turn it into a power game.
Also, to my knowledge the Move numbers include the standalone Move controller and Move bundle but not the sub controller *I think*. Sony did indeed clarify this, but after somebody asked (I can't recall, it may have been Eurogamer)
Who cares?
I find it interesting that we still use the words "shipped" and "pirated"
Sometimes I like to imagine a big freighter floating in the Atlantic carrying a bulkload of games.
... and pirates chasing after it.
VGChartz are wrong and their weekly sales numbers are completely made up. Some dude makes up the numbers weekly numbers on his laptop. VGChartz and its weekly numbers are a complete joke. Sales numbers for games have been off NPD and other professional tracking sites
Hardware numbers shipment figures are released in quarterly updates and it would not take much to guess hardware sales numbers.
NPD, Gfk, Famitsu, etc numbers are copied by VGChartz and adjustment are made without any explanation by the guy who inputs the numbers.
Sony did say...the camera or nav unit sold on its own did not count as part of the numbers. The Move or Move bundle counted and only as one unit (whether alone or in bundle).
Also...if you are trying to 'clarify' the situation why are you not using industry standard accounting terms of Sold in and Sold through?