Analyst: Microsoft and Sony Will Engage in Christmas Console Battle

2011 has not been the best year for the video game industry but one analyst believes that November and December will be very good months for sales, mostly because of the hardware battle between Microsoft and Sony.

Michael Pachter, who is a industry watcher at Wedbush Morgan, spoke about the holiday shopping season to IndustryGamers and said, “We see a console battle heating up this holiday, with Microsoft celebrating the anniversary of its Kinect launch with a media blitz.”

He added, “We think that Sony will respond in kind, and expect Nintendo to follow with advertising of its own. This holiday may be one of the most successful hardware sales periods ever (in terms of units) given appropriate pricing for the three consoles and recent discounting for the handhelds.”

Pachter believes that in October the industry will see double digit growth and that this will be sustained during November and December.

The launch of titles like The Darkness II, Mass Effect 3, Max Payne 3 and the new Ghost Recon, set to arrive during the first months of next year, coupled with the introduction of the PlayStation Vita and the Wii U later in 2012, will fuel an increase of 8 percent in overall video game software sales for 2012 when compared to this year.

Last year combined sales of the PlayStation 3, the Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii sold around 9.4 million units in the Christmas shopping period, from October to December, and this year the figure is estimated to go over 10 million.

Despite the increase in physical retail sales the hardware manufacturers might have lower revenue and profits because of the price cuts that have gone into effect this year.

Recently the Microsoft made home console has dominated the United States market, with the PS3 in second place and the Wii continuing its decline.