14 DAY TRIAL // Despite the launch of the high-profile Mass Effect 3, developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts, and the continuing honeymoon period for the PlayStation Vita handheld from Sony, the numbers that the NPD Group will publish this week are expected to show yet another year-over-year decline.
Michael Pachter, who is an analyst watching the video game industry for Wedbush Morgan, has stated that he is expecting a decline of 23 percent when compared to the same period of last year, with software sales taking a big hit and reaching a value of just 565 million dollars (430 million Euros).
When it comes to hardware, Pachter believes that the overall value of sales will see an even bigger drop of 32%, mainly because the PlayStation Vita is not able to maintain its launch momentum and the industry sees a tough monthly comparison with March 2011, when the Nintendo 3DS was introduced.
The Wedbush Morgan analyst stated, “We believe the PS Vita is unlikely to match its February unit sales figure in the near future as the buzz caused by its release dies down, and TV commercials become more infrequent.”
Pachter expects to see the Vita sell less than the 125,000 handhelds delivered during March, with the Xbox 360 home console from Microsoft managing to retain its sales crown for the month.
The analyst believes that video game sales will continue to decline during April, when no major launches are planned, and that they will only get a boost during May, when Blizzard and Activision finally release Diablo III and Take Two gets Max Payne 3 to the market.
He added, “We expect hardware sales to rebound once price cuts are implemented, but expect a recurrence of the dip next holiday, partially buffered by some modest contribution from the introduction of the PS Vita in February and the Wii U later this year.”