Wedbush predicts hardware sell-out into New Year
Analyst Wedbush Morgan predicts that new console hardware will continue to sell-out well into the New Year.
Analyst Wedbush Morgan predicts that new console hardware will continue to sell-out well into the New Year.
The firm also revealed its preview of US sales in December, predicting a 15 per cent rise in game sales to US $1.637 billion,
Looking at NPD data, the firm expects the Xbox 360 to have shifted 1.2 million units in the final month of the year, with the PS3 clocking up 600,000 units and Nintendo selling 1.3 million Wii's.
"This implies that each company likely shipped at the low end of their guidance range," said Wedbush.
The company believes that there were 18 million next-generation consoles in US homes, including handhelds, at the end of November 2006.
Wedbush stated that it expects combined next-generation software sales - for the PS3, Wii, Xbox 360, PSP and DS - to reach US $927.5 million (EUR 711.9m), compared to US $947.5 million (EUR 727.3m) of current-gen software.
With a tie ratio of 2.5 units for each PS3 and Wii sold, the company expects to see software sales for the two new next-gen machines reaching US $268 million (EUR 205.7m).
Wedbush sees a bright outlook for the beginning of 2007, with publishers making the most of new hardware, which is expected to continue to sell-out until mid-2007.
"We expect the publishers to continue to deliver solid results during the March quarter, and expect to see next-generation hardware sell-outs well into the year."
"We think that robust software sales in December will reinforce investor confidence that the industry is on solid footing, added the analyst.