Following the NPD August sales figures, which showed total hardware sales down 25%, Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter has weighed in, noting that the lower pricing from PS3 and Xbox 360 has put pressure on Wii. Although Nintendo sold 277,000 Wii units in August, that represents a 39% decline, whereas Xbox 360's 215,000 sold represents a 10% increase and the PS3's 210,000 was a 13% jump (73% increase sequentially from July).
All told, the Wii is expected to continue to decline, unless Nintendo acts. "Until the late August PS3 price cut, the Xbox 360 appealed to consumers, likely due to a higher perceived value proposition (the Xbox 360 'core' model was priced $100 lower than the PS3). With the core PS3 and Xbox 360 models priced only $50 higher than the Wii, we expect year-over-year sales of Wii hardware to continue their annual declines until the company either changes its bundle or lowers price. Wii unit sales are 50% below last year’s level over the last five months, and we think that September sales will repeat the pattern," Pachter said.
Additionally, Pachter believes PS3 will see a very nice lift in September, thanks to the PS3 Slim. "The late August price cut for the PS3 clearly drove a pickup in demand, with that console’s sales up 73% sequentially, and we expect another 50 – 100% sales growth in September," he stated.
