Lazard’s Colin Sebastian: Wii production going up, PS3 slowing down

 

In a report by Game Daily, Lazard Capital Markets’ analyst Colin Sebastian observed that Nintendo has definitely ramped up their production efforts to a whopping 1.5 million units per month. In addition, he believes that Nintendo is continuing to enlist third parties in order to deliver quality casual game titles over to the Wii.

“Based on our conversations at the event, we also believe Nintendo is making more aggressive overtures to attract strong third-party support on its platforms,” said Sebastian, pointing at third party casual titles such as EA’s Boogie, THQ’s Drawn to Life and Ubisoft‘s Jam Sessions.

“We believe that an expanding audience for Nintendo platforms could ultimately benefit third-party software in addition to first party sales,” Sebastian concluded.

His analysis of production numbers apparently comes from the reports made by the Japanese gaming giant and similar reports coming in from major game retailers such as GameStop. “Based on our retail channel checks, demand still appears to exceed supply, and we believe that shortages could persist through the remainder of the year, including the key holiday period,” said Sebastian.

Nintendo is currently enjoying the success of the Wii and the “rapid adoption” of the Nintendo DS, still pointing back towards former conclusions that both platforms continue to generate a new market for the game industry, which includes the female and older gamer demographics.

This good news however is offset by the side-note of the Lazard analyst that Sony‘s PlayStation 3 production is slowing down in Asia. Reports coming in from the region suggests that the slowdown is only temporary but is more likely an indication that there won’t be any price cuts made this year.

“We continue to believe timing of Sony’s first PS3 price cut is likely to accompany a stronger software release lineup as well as further cuts in production and component costs,” Sebastian commented.

 

In a report by Game Daily, Lazard Capital Markets’ analyst Colin Sebastian observed that Nintendo has definitely ramped up their production efforts to a whopping 1.5 million units per month. In addition, he believes that Nintendo is continuing to enlist third parties in order to deliver quality casual game titles over to the Wii.

“Based on our conversations at the event, we also believe Nintendo is making more aggressive overtures to attract strong third-party support on its platforms,” said Sebastian, pointing at third party casual titles such as EA’s Boogie, THQ’s Drawn to Life and Ubisoft‘s Jam Sessions.

“We believe that an expanding audience for Nintendo platforms could ultimately benefit third-party software in addition to first party sales,” Sebastian concluded.

His analysis of production numbers apparently comes from the reports made by the Japanese gaming giant and similar reports coming in from major game retailers such as GameStop. “Based on our retail channel checks, demand still appears to exceed supply, and we believe that shortages could persist through the remainder of the year, including the key holiday period,” said Sebastian.

Nintendo is currently enjoying the success of the Wii and the “rapid adoption” of the Nintendo DS, still pointing back towards former conclusions that both platforms continue to generate a new market for the game industry, which includes the female and older gamer demographics.

This good news however is offset by the side-note of the Lazard analyst that Sony‘s PlayStation 3 production is slowing down in Asia. Reports coming in from the region suggests that the slowdown is only temporary but is more likely an indication that there won’t be any price cuts made this year.

“We continue to believe timing of Sony’s first PS3 price cut is likely to accompany a stronger software release lineup as well as further cuts in production and component costs,” Sebastian commented.