Dear Reader:
January 2011 NPD - Updated console numbers, Michael Pachter says Wii/DS to drop, 3DS to grow
Xbox 360 - 381,000 (+15%)
Wii - 319,000 (-32%)
PS3 - 267,000 (-3.6%)
Commentary from Michael Pachter…
Current generation (PS3, Wii, 360, PSP, DS) software sales were $572 million, $52 million above our estimate, while legacy software sales were $4 million, $6 million below our estimate. Wii software sales were $179 million (down 20% y-o-y), Xbox 360 sales were $170 million (up 8%), and PS3 sales were $141 million (up 24%). DS software sales were $72 million (down 13%), while PSP software sales Entertainment: Software| 3 were $10 million (down 37%).
The increases in sales for the PS3 and Xbox 360 platforms have become the norm, and declines for the other consoles have also become the norm. Over the next year, we expect Wii and DS software sales to continue the negative trend, but anticipate strong sales for Nintendo’s 3DS that should spur overall handheld software sales back into positive territory. We expect PS3 software sales to spike when several high profile releases launch in the coming months, and believe that overall PS3 software sales would benefit immensely from a hardware price cut, expected in June.