Video game sales see a sharp rise in February

Sales of video games in February expected to see a much larger rise than previous months, predicts industry analysts.

By Corrine Zuniev

The National Purchase Diary, responsible for collecting consumer and retail info for manufacturers and retailers, will release US video game sales figures for February later this week. Michael Patcher and Evan Wilson, analysts for Wedbush Morgan Securities and Pacific Crest Securities respectively, offered their thoughts on these figures.

Patcher predicts that US retail software sales increased 20% to $415 million. Wilson predicts it a little higher, with an increase of 25% to $430 million. Games for the newest consoles are selling extremely well and not only are the markets for 360, Wii, and PS3 games growing, but the market for PS2 has remained strong.

Wii consoles remain hard to find, and will likely remain so until April, mentions Wilson. As for its competitor, the PS3, Pacific Crest's analyst says that while sales of the console are improving they will not really pick up "until prices are reduced and the line-up of games improves."

February's gaming sales were supported by such strong selling titles as Guitar Hero II, which gained in popularity from the last holiday market, Patcher points out, and goes on to state that games such as Major League Baseball 2K7, Virtual Fighter 5, Crackdown, and The Sims 2 Seasons will be the ones to watch this month.

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