Pachter: Wii on top, 360 2nd, PS3 close 3rd for January NPD

[Dolla Dolla]

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=17328

Ahead of NPD's February 14th report of U.S. software and hardware sales for January, analysts from Wedbush Morgan and simExchange have called for a Wii-led month, with total sales down slightly from the year prior to approximately $500 million.

Last year's January sales report, however, was five weeks to this year's four, and, adjusted for the difference, says Wedbush's Michael Pachter, sales would actually be up 14 percent, rather than down its predicted 9 percent.

Pachter expects January software sales to be driven by Super Mario Galaxy, Wii Play, Call of Duty 4, Guitar Hero III and Rock Band, with a light monthly release schedule topped mainly be Burnout Paradise and Advance Wars: Days of Ruin.

Both Pachter and fantasy market simExchange have released their predictions for hardware sales, which breaks down as follows:

Wedbush Morgan
Wii - 420,000
DS - 350,000
Xbox 360 - 290,000
PS3 - 240,000
PSP - 200,000
PS2 - 190,000
GBA - 5,000

simExchange
DS - 460,000
Wii - 403,000
Xbox 360 - 289,000
PSP - 250,000
PS3 - 200,000

Concluded Pachter, "While next generation console unit sales are more modest than they were in the analogous period of 2002 (when console prices averaged under $200), recent price cuts, greater handheld hardware sales, and new product introductions (slim PSP and the 40Gb PS3) along with the release of key games (Halo 3 and Guitar Hero III) triggered a spike in hardware sales over the last few months that we believe will continue into 2008."

For comparison (Edited to include TheSource's NPD Preview):

Console	Pachter	SimExchange	VGC
Wii	420k	403k	327k
DS	350k	460k	547k
X360	290k	289k	286k
PS3	240k	200k	201k
PSP	200k	250k	268k

*Note: I took the monthly for VGC, so it may not match up with the time periods for Pachter and SimExchange.