Our favourite video game analysts are attemptin to predict US console sales once again and this month they are both pretty much the same, give or take the odd ten thousand sales here and there!
Wedbush Morgan
DS – 450K
Wii – 400K
Xbox 360 – 325K
PS3 – 195K
PSP – 85K
PS2 – 40KEEDAR
DS -435K
Wii – 375K
Xbox 360 – 350K
PS3 – 185K
PSP – 75K
Thanks Neogaf
It is clear for all to see that Aprils NPD sales were very low compared to what we are used to. Sales were not only low for one console but for all of them. Micheal Pachter of Wedbush Morgan cannot fathom any answers as to why this is however with there not being many major releases in April maybe he is right in saying people could be holding off for the big releases coming in May.
Similarly people could have been holding off buying a Wii while waiting for the black console release. Who knows, but it will be interersting to see if Mays sales bounce back.
“The April sales results are baffling to us. The dollar sales level of $399 million is the lowest since May 2007, when this generation was barely underway, and is the weakest April result since 2005, when console software sales totaled only $6 billion for the full year. The sequential decline of 54% is the greatest in the 11 years that we have been tracking monthly data (except for December-January declines), dwarfing the previous record of 42% set in March-April 2002. For the first 13 weeks of 2010, video game software sales averaged just under $162 million; for the four weeks of April, they averaged just under $100 million.
Wedbush Morgan videogame analyst is at it again – predicting the future. Below is an excerpt from a recent interview where he continues his gloomy outlook for all things Nintendo (except 3DS).
Here he was asked which console manufacturer he would rather be at E3:
“It really depends on this 3DS and how good it is, because I don’t think Nintendo has anything else. Nintendo is on the verge of – certainly not dropping into third place or anything – losing its dominance, because I really truly believe that Sony Move is the Wii HD. I really believe it. That’s been my quote: I told everyone a Wii HD was coming this year, it just happens to say PS3 on the box. It is the Wii HD.
That’s a very easy upsell for Sony to say, ‘If you have a Wii and you really want to play high-def games on your new big high-def TV, we’ve got ‘em.’ Sony is a winner and Nintendo is a loser on the console side, because the Wii Vitality Sensor isn’t going to excite anybody. But the 3DS will. If you look at Nintendo’s line-up, everything we care about is either out or known by now.”
Continues after the link.
Read more…
Games analyst at Wedbush Morgan, Michael Pachter, has been gazing into his crystal ball again to see what fortunes await Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft bring this year. He’s estimating that PS3 and Xbox 360 will eat into the Wii’s market share by the end of the year and that Nintendo’s poor release schedule up until April has not helped boost flagging Wii console sales.
Other than that, he agrees with most people that the announcement of the 3DS was “ill-timed”. We agree!
“Nintendo’s overall performance has fallen short of our expectations, with software down over 30% and Wii hardware units down almost 50%. The company may have faced supply constraints for its hardware, but staple titles like Wii Fit with Balance Board and Wii Play were also well below historical levels”
Continued inside…
Wedbush Morgans top videogame analyst, Mr Michael Pachter, has been talking Nintendo again and more specifically the “lot of crap” and “shovelware” that resides on the Wii.
We have to agree with Mr Pachter. The Wii with its new motion controls and the success of Wii Sports spurned a huge amount of cheaply developed games by all kinds of developers wanting to jump on the bandwagon. Of course there are some great titles on Wii too and all popular consoles are flooded with cheaply produced games that receive poor ratings by critics, however the Wii may set a new record for the console with the highest amount of shovelware ever!
In an interview with Gamasutra the Pachter says:
“The housewives who thought Wii Fit looked like fun, the grandmas who thought that Wii Sports would be a fun thing to play with their grandkids, and the 20-somethings who only wanted to play Guitar Hero or Rock Band… none of them people who you’d call ‘gamers’. They are not buying much more software. They bought what they wanted and don’t feel the need to buy more – nor are they aware of what other Wii games are out there. They’re oblivious.”
More on Pachters thoughts after the break.
Once again Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter has predicted a Wii price cut by this holiday season. Though consoles have usually had either a price cut or at least added bundles at this point in the Wii’s lifespan, the white wonder machine has not had anything so far, worldwide. In fact the price has even gone up in the U.K to compensate for the weakening economy.
Though Mr. Pachter is right in that the Wii will, at some point, will get a price cut, we think this year may be a little too soon. Nintendo have the option to add a range of colours and game bundles to add value to the console before cutting the price to boost sales. A Wii Sports Resort bundle with MotionPlus would be certain to help hardware sales.
Of course this is all speculation on our part and Mr. Pachters. All or none of this could happen, but considering a recent slow down in sales in Japan, Europe and North America of the Wii it is reasonable to assume Nintendo will pull something out of the bag, especially if Microsoft and Sony make similar moves this year.
Michael Pachter from Wedbush Morgan Securities and his humongous report on gaming have thrown up the top gaming brands in 2008 from all publishers.
Topping the list not surprisingly is ‘Guitar Hero‘ at a whopping $992 million revenue, helped on no doubt by the high price of the guitar that comes with the game. In second is ‘Mario Bros.’ quite a way behind at $761 million and in third is ‘Rock Band‘ at $662 million. With ‘Guitar Hero 5‘ and ‘The Beatles: Rock Band‘ both out this year, music games could well take the two top spots for 2009.
I don’t think too much will surprise you on the list but we thought ‘Warcraft‘ would have charted higher than 17 (even though it is old) and we’re more sad than surprised about Petz making number 30!
Hit the link for the full list.
Everyone’s favourite videogame analyst, Michael Pachter has the same view as me that Nintendo need a more ‘hardcore’ showing at this years E3, after over emphasising the casual market at last years show. Michael also notes that it has been quite a while since the last Zelda and Mario game on the Wii which is true, but he also mentions that maybe Nintendo will bring back Goldeneye. That seems a very strange comment to me and not so sure he has hit the nail on the head with that one.
Follow the read more link to hear what the crystal ball-gazing analyst has to say. Read more…
Two of the worlds leading games analysts have been looking deep into their crystal balls again to predict sales of Wii MotionPlus.
Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan, believes “around 20 percent of Wii owners in the US and Europe will have bought Wii Sports Resort, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 or EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis, so that’s around eight million” as those games come bundled with the wiimote peripheral.
“I think another two million will buy MotionPlus with new consoles. I expect MotionPlus to be a sneaky success (like Wii Fit), and ultimately attach to at least one third of the [Wii's] installed base” Pachter concluded.
Jesse Divnich from EEDAR however was a little less optimistic with his future sales predictions. Hit the jump to find out what they were. Read more…
Retro Console Games
