According to Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter, the video game industry is on the brink of a rebound – and Sony's PlayStation 3 will lead the pack. "After six consecutive months of double-digit declines, we expect a return to double-digit sales growth (on video game software)," said Pachter, noting that sales are expected to be up 21% to $750 million, compared to $618 million last year.
Pachter estimates that September's NPD figures will show about 390,000 Wii units shipped (down 45% from last year), 350,000 Xbox 360s (up 1%), and 410,000 PS3s (up 76% on year). He predicts that Sony's console will continue to outsell Microsoft's for the remainder of this year, and that another price cut from Redmond may be due. That said, he added that there's a better chance the company will introduce a "more feature-packed Xbox 360 in early 2010 (likely with a 250GB hard drive) at the same price point."
NPD will release its game sales data next Thursday, but in the meantime, forecasted video game sales show Halo 3: ODST with 1,800,000 units shipped, and the nearest competition is Wii Sports Resort at 500,000. The Beatles: Rock Band on the Wii and Xbox 360 are expected to move 350,000 and 325,000 units respectively, taking third and fourth place.