Pachter: Console Sales Fine, But Predicts Holiday Price Cut

See Full Image

How are console sales thus far? Well, just about everyone knows the Wii is leading the pack by a good amount, but recent months have seen a decline in Wii and Xbox 360 sales and an increase in PlayStation 3 sales. Well, they kinda go back and forth with no real drastic changes anywhere, although we may see a spike in PS3 sales now that Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots has arrived. In general, and according to a recent Kotaku interview with Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter, sales for all three are just fine.

But at the same time, he also predicts a $50 price cut for both the PS3 and Xbox 360 this holiday season. For the time being, Pachter wonders at how well Nintendo is doing and says it's not really a surprise to see Sony and Microsoft "are doing about the same."

"I don't really think that Microsoft and Sony are doing badly - just doing badly in comparison to Nintendo. It makes sense that PS3 and 360 are doing about the same... instead of saying 'what's wrong with Sony and Microsoft,' we should be looking at Nintendo and saying, 'how the hell do they keep doing this?'"

To be perfectly honest, we don't know the answer to that last question. Nothing in the way of excellent software has showed up for the Wii since early in the console's lifespan, and yet, people keep buying the thing. However, we still believe the end result will see all three consoles competitively vying for the top position, as many analysts have predicted. In the meantime, if you haven't yet taken the next-gen plunge, perhaps Christmas 2008 will be the time.

"You'll get a price cut," said Pachter. "I think if I were Sony, I would wait for the Fall, or for the Christmas lineup. There's no reason for them to cut it today [with MGS 4 out]. They'll go $100 if they can afford to." Furthermore, he went on to say that Sony may take advantage of LittleBigPlanet and potentially release a "family bundle" of sorts. Well, if history is any indication, it's pretty damn obvious that cutting the price of hardware certainly causes sales increases. ...seems quite obvious to us.

6/15/2008 Ben Dutka

Put this on your webpage or blog:
Email this to a friend
Subscribe to Ben Dutka on Twitter