Webush Morgan's head of research into video gaming, Michael Pachter, has often amused us. Today, however, we've had some insight into how a highly paid analyst carries out his research. In a note released to the press, and estimating July hardware sales figures in the USA, he says:
"We think that the negative software trend is less attributable to a weak software line-up, and can only conclude that until consumers are sufficiently interested in buying consoles, it will be difficult for publishers alone to drive sales higher each month." In short, it's not uninspiring titles that are stopping people buying games... it's the fact that people don't want to buy over-priced hardware. Yes, not wanting hardware is stopping people who already have hardware from buying games.
But now to the core of the research. Pachter feels that there will soon be price cuts because, "Rumours of an imminent price cut by Sony and a console upgrade by Microsoft are rampant."
This is why he gets the big bucks. Aside from rumours, how else is Mr P using to support the advice his clients pay for? "We have no information that a price cut or console upgrade is planned in the near term, although the Internet pictures of the PS3 Slim and of the new Xbox 360 packaging appear real to us."
That's right. Well, it's a relief to know that the research work is of better quality than the kind of thing you can find using 'Find stuff about PS3' as a Google query.
His estimates for July sales are...
Wii: 305,000
Xbox 360: 190,000
PS3: 135,000
PS2: 130,000
DS: 590,000
PSP: 140,000
"We think that the negative software trend is less attributable to a weak software line-up, and can only conclude that until consumers are sufficiently interested in buying consoles, it will be difficult for publishers alone to drive sales higher each month." In short, it's not uninspiring titles that are stopping people buying games... it's the fact that people don't want to buy over-priced hardware. Yes, not wanting hardware is stopping people who already have hardware from buying games.
But now to the core of the research. Pachter feels that there will soon be price cuts because, "Rumours of an imminent price cut by Sony and a console upgrade by Microsoft are rampant."
This is why he gets the big bucks. Aside from rumours, how else is Mr P using to support the advice his clients pay for? "We have no information that a price cut or console upgrade is planned in the near term, although the Internet pictures of the PS3 Slim and of the new Xbox 360 packaging appear real to us."
That's right. Well, it's a relief to know that the research work is of better quality than the kind of thing you can find using 'Find stuff about PS3' as a Google query.
His estimates for July sales are...
Wii: 305,000
Xbox 360: 190,000
PS3: 135,000
PS2: 130,000
DS: 590,000
PSP: 140,000
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