Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter has sent along his November game sales preview report in advance of the NPD data for the month (expected this Thursday). Pachter estimates that console software sales totaled $1 billion, which is up 24 percent year-over-year.
Pachter noted that "November includes nine days of sales post-Thanksgiving, compared to only two days of sales last year, so software and hardware sell-through should be dramatically higher year-over-year. In addition, the Wii and PS3 had combined sales of 672,000 units in November 2006, and our forecast is over twice this figure, reflecting that both consoles should be in much larger supply this November."
Pachter believes the Wii sold around 950K units for the period, compared to 750K unites for Xbox 360 and 420K unites for the PS3.
Software sales were likely driven by new releases such as Nintendo's Super Mario Galaxy, Activision's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, EA's Rock Band and Need for Speed ProStreet, THQ's WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008, and Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed, along with continued strong sales of Activision's Guitar Hero III, EA's Madden NFL 08 and Nintendo's Wii Play and The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.
Next-generation software sales (including DS and PSP) are expected to comprise around $770 million of the $1 billion total.