Pachter prediction: Guitar Hero III to boost October software sales

In a couple of days, NPD will be publishing their hardware and software sales reports for the month of October. In line with that, we’ve picked up word that Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter has made his own predictions for the said time period.

He predicts solid overall sales for the month, at the forefront of which were generous software sales largely attributed to the success of Activision’s Guitar Hero III game for the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii and PC.

As you guys will recall, Guitar Hero III by Activision for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 , and Wii consoles reportedly earned a staggering US$ 115 million in sales during its first week run.

And while this is certainly good news for the publisher, analyst Michael Pachter predicts that GHIII‘s success isn’t just going to boost Activision. Pachter is making his predictions ahead of the NPD‘s November sales reports, which recorded hardware and software sales ending last October.

According to Pachter, we may be looking a possible US$ 555 million in total software sales for the month, thanks partly to GH3‘s massive sales. Put another way, it means we’re looking at a 50 percent growth spurt since NPD’s September reports.

Aside from GH3, Pachter also predicted that the other software sales leaders would be The Orange Box (PC, Xbox 360, PS3), Madden NFL 08 (Xbox 360, P3, Wii, Windows PC, DS, PSP, PS2, Xbox, GC, Mac), Wii Play (Wii), and The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS).

Moving on to consoles sales, Pachter predicted these sales numbers for the following games systems:

• Wii: 450,000 units
• DS: 400,000 units
• Xbox 360: 325,000 units
• PSP: 225,000 units
• PlayStation 2: 190,000
• PlayStation 3: 125,000

The analyst further predicted PS2 sales to drop by 47 percent come NPD’s report, as more consumers begin buying the newer consoles. Pachter did state that PS2 sales would normalize before 2008, as movie DVDs of Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third, Ratatouille, The Simpsons Movie, and Transformers are expected to bolster the sales of their corresponding game ports. Lastly, Pachter predicted a positive outlook for the next two months:

Although we think that sales of Halo 3, The Orange Box and Guitar Hero III accounted for virtually all of the growth during the month, we think that improving hardware console pricing and the broad diversity and popularity of software will position the industry for solid sales growth in November and December.

In case you’re wondering, NPD’s sales reports for the month ending October are expected to be released this November 15.

Buy: [Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Xbox 360)]
Buy: [Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (PS3)]
Buy: [Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock Bundle (Wii)]

Via GameDaily