http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/news/?id=16811
WMS Predicts Wii Outsold PS3 4-to-1 in June; Software Sales up 8%
Wii sales of 435,000 forecast
Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter has sent out his usual NPD preview report, which forecasts U.S. console software sales to be up 8% for the month of June. Sales of $480 million compared to last year's $444 million have been predicted. Pachter's model includes a $325 million sales contribution from the big three (360, Wii, PS3) and the new portables, DS and PSP.
Pachter's estimate places Wii hardware sales at 435K, Xbox 360 at 200K and PS3 at 100K. The DS, however, is expected to top all platforms once again with 550K versus the PSP's respectable 250K. Meanwhile, the aging PS2 is expected to put up a healthy 235K.
Game sales are expected to be driven by recent releases such as Nintendo's Mario Party 8 and Activision's Guitar Hero 2 as well as new releases such as EA's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (PS2, 360, DS, PS3, PSP, PC, Wii) Nintendo's Pokemon Battle Revolution (Wii), Take-Two's The Darkness (PS3, 360), and THQ's Ratatouille (PS2, 360, DS, GBA, GC, PSP, PC, Wii).
"Sales growth over the last 12 months is a robust 15%, with last month up 33%. However, we expect more modest sales gains throughout the summer, as comparisons get tougher in June and remain tough until the holidays," commented Pachter. "However, we continue to expect contribution from next generation software sales to grow on a year-over-year basis throughout 2007, more than offsetting modest declines in current generation software sales."
