Pachter: June wasn’t so bad, hardware will see better sales with more games and price cuts

Analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan has issued his evaluation of the past month in the gaming industry and said that it was better than most industry insiders thought thanks to the pace that games are selling.

“We were pleasantly surprised by the strong sales. While some detractors may consider the next generation cycle off to a poor start, we think that improving hardware and software sales indicate strong demand for the still relatively light software lineup on the next gen consoles,” comments Pachter.

He adds “we believe that once a greater variety of compelling software is released later this year, demand for the new hardware will increase,” referring to the current content available for all three next-generation game systems.

Pachter says that sales should improve for the Sony PlayStation 3 after the price cut it announced prior to the E3 2007 show in Santa Monica. He also expects hardware figures to rise for the Microsoft Xbox 360 if they dip retail rates in response to rival PS3.

Pachter says he expects the fiscal cycle to end with all of the next-generation consoles still playing catch-up to big numbers that old favorites PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS still command. However, he expects the gap to narrow down as production of games for the PS2 slows down.

Big publishers THQ, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Majesco, Take-Two, Atari and Activision have all posted significant increases in sales last month with Ubisoft leading the charge. The French game outfit saw a 103 percent mark up on retail stats thanks to diversity on terms of platforms and genres it explores.

Via Gamasutra

Analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan has issued his evaluation of the past month in the gaming industry and said that it was better than most industry insiders thought thanks to the pace that games are selling.

“We were pleasantly surprised by the strong sales. While some detractors may consider the next generation cycle off to a poor start, we think that improving hardware and software sales indicate strong demand for the still relatively light software lineup on the next gen consoles,” comments Pachter.

He adds “we believe that once a greater variety of compelling software is released later this year, demand for the new hardware will increase,” referring to the current content available for all three next-generation game systems.

Pachter says that sales should improve for the Sony PlayStation 3 after the price cut it announced prior to the E3 2007 show in Santa Monica. He also expects hardware figures to rise for the Microsoft Xbox 360 if they dip retail rates in response to rival PS3.

Pachter says he expects the fiscal cycle to end with all of the next-generation consoles still playing catch-up to big numbers that old favorites PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS still command. However, he expects the gap to narrow down as production of games for the PS2 slows down.

Big publishers THQ, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Majesco, Take-Two, Atari and Activision have all posted significant increases in sales last month with Ubisoft leading the charge. The French game outfit saw a 103 percent mark up on retail stats thanks to diversity on terms of platforms and genres it explores.

Via Gamasutra