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The upcoming August NPD figures will be the first to factor in the effect of the global PS3 price cut, but one analyst firm has said that it won’t be enough to dethrone the Xbox 360.
Sony cut the cost of the console by $50 last month.
IndustryGamers reports that Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter predicts monthly PS3 hardware unit sales of 240k units. That would be a six per cent year-on-year decline.
However, he reckons that Xbox 360 unit sales will reach 275k units – an annual decline of 23 per cent.
Furthermore Pachter estimates 3DS sales of 135k, Wii sales of 175k and DS sales of 235k.
He also predicts sharp declines in the software market, with its monthly value expected to fall 30 per cent to $284m.
Despite a relatively easy comp of down 14 per cent, we expect negative software sales growth to continue in August due to a lateMaddenlaunch and a very weak release slate," Pachter explained.
"Maddensales totalled $115m last year, so without the delay, our forecast calls for only a slightly down month."
