Analysts on December sales: industry boom, Blu-ray will prevail, more

The December sales report from the NPD Group was published, and it’s been quite a turnout. Analysts were right in predicting that the industry will experience a sales growth, but now that the numbers are out they have even more to say. Check out the full article for reactions from analysts Michael Pachter and Jesse Divnich on the December sales numbers.

December was a huge month for the video game industry. Sales for the month hit a whopping US$ 4.82 billion, kicking up annual growth by 43%. The whole of 2007 got US$ 17.94 billion in hardware, software, and accessory sales.

Before the NPD Group released this info, analysts gave their forecasts for that month. Now that the numbers are out, they have a lot more to say. Here are the reactions of analysts Michael Pachter and Jesse Divnich.

Pachter of Wedbush Morgan believes that the PlayStation 3 didn’t quite meet expectations. Although it’s still behind the Xbox 360 and the Wii, he believes that certain events that benefited the Blu-ray camp will drive PS3 sales this year:

We think that the Blu-ray format will prevail over the rival HD DVD format, and think that Sony will emphasize that point in PS3 advertising later this year, ultimately driving sales higher.

Divnich of simExchange approached the PlayStation 3 from a different angle. He says that the platform can’t support more than one game of the same genre for a period of time:

This was proven true as both posted even lower than expected sales, with Half-Life 2: Orange Box only selling 56,600 units while Timeshift only selling 25,000 units. We do expect this to be a short-term phenomenon as the PS3’s install base continues to grow and becomes capable of supporting more than one title in the same genre in the future.

He adds that exclusive video games and price cuts will be the driving force to help the PS3 catch up with the Xbox 360.

This would mean that the Wii should continue to attempt to solve its hardware constraint issues. The Xbox 360 should continue to focus on its Xbox Live Market place, its software selection, and exclusives. The PS3’s best opportunity is to continue to cut hardware prices and advertise heavily on its software exclusives

Via GameSpot