Michael Pachter of Webbush Morgan Securities speculates that the Wii and 360 will be almost even for sales in December and that the PS2 surprises him because it’s still going strong based upon recent industry data.
Pachter said, "These figures imply that Microsoft will sell 1.5 million Xbox 360s in December in the U.S., that Nintendo will sell 1.7 million Wiis, and that Sony will sell around 800,000 PS3s. This is about double the number of consoles sold last December, and suggests that the holiday will be a good one for the U.S. publishers."
However, the figures for the Wii maybe off because these are the unit estimates on how many are available for sale. Demand continues to outstrip available stock, so if Nintendo had an ample supply to sell without the shortages, their numbers could be quite higher.
The venerable PS2 is still successful even after 7 years and Pachter thinks that the aging game console will still be a driving sales force in 2008. "We continue to believe that better than expected PS2 software sales this year will drive overall growth well into next year…"
He remarked on the rumor that Sony is planning on the release of an even cheaper PS2 model for less than a hundred bucks.
"We have heard speculation about a redesigned PS2 priced at $99 (from the current $129), with a likely U.S. launch in early 2008 (we note that this new PS2 has already been released in Japan with no price cut). We believe that the lower-priced PS2 will sell at least as well in 2008 as it has in 2007, with sales running at the 4 million unit level next year."
So while the Wii, PS3 and 360 punch each other out over market share, the PS2 continues to remain in the running. This is good news for the over 120 million PS2 users around the world because this will mean continued game development and new titles for them.
[via gamedaily]
