GameDaily
Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter has issued his NPD preview report ahead of this week's data release, and similar to EEDAR, he sees Nintendo dominating. In fact, Pachter believes that Nintendo sold 3.25 million Wiis compared to EEDAR's forecast of 3.2 million. He also predicts sales of 2.6 million DS handhelds, 1.35 million Xbox 360s and 750K PS3s.
Overall, Pachter thinks hardware unit sell-through will be up 13 percent to 9.15 million and software sales will climb 10 percent to $2.625 billion.
Most industry pundits would tell you that the PlayStation 3 has been trailing the competition largely because of its hefty price tag. Pachter, however, believes the $399 price point will finally come down to $299 in just a few months. Microsoft is likely to drop its price on the 360 as well.
"Once the PS3 is at a more affordable price point (we expect a cut to $299 in April), we think that sales of that device will once again begin to grow. We expect another cut in price for the Xbox 360, with the feature-laden Pro model likely to come down in price to $249 at or before this year's E3 show in June. We expect Nintendo to maintain Wii pricing at $249 until the company sees signs that demand is slowing, which means a price cut may not happen until late in the year, if at all," Pachter said.
Overall, Pachter thinks hardware unit sell-through will be up 13 percent to 9.15 million and software sales will climb 10 percent to $2.625 billion.
Most industry pundits would tell you that the PlayStation 3 has been trailing the competition largely because of its hefty price tag. Pachter, however, believes the $399 price point will finally come down to $299 in just a few months. Microsoft is likely to drop its price on the 360 as well.
"Once the PS3 is at a more affordable price point (we expect a cut to $299 in April), we think that sales of that device will once again begin to grow. We expect another cut in price for the Xbox 360, with the feature-laden Pro model likely to come down in price to $249 at or before this year's E3 show in June. We expect Nintendo to maintain Wii pricing at $249 until the company sees signs that demand is slowing, which means a price cut may not happen until late in the year, if at all," Pachter said.
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