Price not GTA IV to blame for slow PS3, 360 sales, says analyst

While interest, investment, and sales of Nintendo Wii are through the roof, outspoken analyst Michael Pachter says traditional games will still grow, though not as fast as mainstream ones.

Less is more, says Nintendo Wii

Less is more, says Nintendo Wii

"The market for next-gen games is not close to exhaustion," says Pachter, when asked how promising of a future the Xbox 360 and PS3 have in a post-Wii world. "As consoles come down in price, the manufacturers will sell more of them, and the market will continue to expand."

According to Pachter, who in February was rated one of the two most reliable video game analyst by Kotaku, it's all about price. "Around 90% of last-generation console sales were made at the $199 price point or below," he says. "Only wealthy or hardcore gamers have purchased consoles so far, given that the PS3 is still $399, the 360 is still $349, and the Wii is still $249. When prices drop below $200 (probably in 2010), the mass market [for 360 and PS3] will emerge."

That said, the popular analyst expects the quantity of traditional games to remain constant as casual takes off. "The number of next-gen games will likely stay around present levels, primarily because of the cost of development. But I don't think that will impact sales much if we are offered only 200 next-gen games each year."

Pachter's remarks come as Grand Theft Auto IV did little to move Xbox 360 and PS3 hardware in the last two months, leading some to believe that if this year's best-selling game can't increase the sales of cutting edge consoles, the market for said machines may be tapped.

To date, Nintendo has sold an estimated 28 million Wiis worldwide in just 18 months, followed by Microsoft with 19 million Xbox 360s in 30 months, and Sony with 14 million PlayStation 3s in 18 months.

Comments [164]

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Kosmonova

I still do not understand why people buy the Wii. I haven't played mine in nearly six months and all it does now is collect dust next to my 360 and PS3.

Goofball1

[url="http://www.gamegrep.com/news/2542-analyst_wii_fad_not_really_in_danger_as_successor_seems_likely_in_few_years/"]Btw. He has gotten every prediction that he has made this generation wrong. I want a job where i can be wrong 100% of the time and still get a paycheck. He is also the guy that said the PS3 would sell at $600 and not to discount the price of it and the Wii would die out as of now.....[/url]

Kosmonova

Blake, why do you continue to post this guy's quotes? He obviously does not have anything of value to say, so it doesn't add any content to GamePro.

Toneman

GTA IV is apparently the best videogame since freakin Pac Man... according to reviews... so how could GTA be blamed for slow sales? If you want to point the finger at someone, blame BUSH and what he did to the economy!

Goofball1

[url="http://www.alleyinsider.com/2007/12/sony_ps3_to_steamroll_nintendo_wii_xbox_in_2008"]Yes, He is the jackass of this business[/url]

Pachter: It is pretty clear that price makes a difference. As PS3 prices have gone down, sales have gone up.
But before he said no need for a discount price on the PS3? lol

Wii60PS3_player

i still do not understand how people buy the ps3 with no true AAA games that are excusive. the wii has zelda, metroid, SSBB, mario kart, mario galaxy, the 360 has halo3, bioshock(for the first year), mass effect, gears of war 1 and 2. the ps3 has...........oh wait its coming to me.........MGS4 after 1 and a half years. bravo sony bravo. hey there arent any games to play but atleast i can download movies now and check the weather when i want. yessssss oh yeah, and watch bluray movies. i will have trophies now, but alas, no games to get the trophies for!

Goofball1

wulfshelmut Posted at: 06/27/08 at 9:28 AM PST This guys right on the money for the most part. These systems are still to expensive and GTA4 didnt help sell 360 or ps3s.
He's right on the money 2 years late. He said the exact opposite not too long ago. How the PS3 and Xbox360 would pass the Wii regardless of price because they were true HD game machines with extra features. He is just eating crow now as his earlier predictions (all of them may i add) tanked. For an analyst he sure is dumb as rocks as all he had to do was look at the history of console gaming to KNOW that high priced consoles no matter WHAT features or advantages they had over the competition never sold strongly. 21+ years of console history gaming proved this. From the Atari 2600 up until now. Yet he would make predictions that were so off it was comical.

StormKing

"As consoles come down in price, the manufacturers will sell more of them, and the market will continue to expand." Leave it to Michael Pachter to state the obvious.........how does he keep getting paid for this?

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