Pachter: PS4, Xbox One under $400; current-gen price drops this year

by David Hinkle on Jun 3rd 2013 2:00PM

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter is predicting a sub-$400 pricing scheme for the PS4 and Xbox One – $349.99 for the PS4 and $399.99 for Xbox One. This comes from the investment firm's annual E3 preview report, which unsurprisingly calls out the next generation consoles as the main focus of this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles.

Pachter says the Xbox One pricing "makes sense given that the Xbox 360 Pro debuted at that price point in November 2005," though he stresses that this is without any type of subscription or subsidies program - like a cable television provider. As for PS4, Pachter asserts it'll make its debut at a lower price point than the PS3 as that $599 debut "negatively impacted its long-term popularity."

"We also expect the hardware manufacturers to announce price cuts," Pachter writes in the report (pdf link). He predicts both the PS3 and Xbox 360 will be reduced by at least $50 in the run-up to the holidays, while he says the Wii will be knocked down to $99 - maybe we'll get our own Wii Mini? Pachter also says Nintendo may try to increase Wii U sales through a price cut or "a bundle that includes some of its more popular software." Finally, he anticipates a PS Vita price drop, too.

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Pachter: Wii U sales hit 55,000 in April, 20,000 below Wii

by Jessica Conditt on May 14th 2013 7:00PM

Nintendo's Wii U sold 55,000 units in April, down 19 percent from March, while the Wii sold 75,000 in April, down 16 percent from last year, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter estimates. To compare, he says Microsoft sold 205,000 Xbox 360 units and Sony snagged 165,000 sales of the PlayStation 3 this April. By these numbers, sales of the Xbox 360 are down 13 percent and PS3 sales are down 5 percent year-over-year.

Nintendo hit 185,000 sales of its 3DS last month, a 46 percent jump in sales from the previous year, Pachter says. Sony's Vita is down 57 percent from 2012, selling just 30,000 units this April. These are of course the standard Pachter estimates, which can only mean one thing – the official numbers are on their way, via the NPD. Those figures are expected on Thursday.

As of March 31, the Wii U has sold 3.45 million units since its launch, below Nintendo's initial forecast of 5.5 million, and even January's adjustment to 4 million. Nintendo expects to have sold 9 million Wii U consoles by next fiscal year, ending March 2014, with sales spurred by the release of "key Nintendo titles."

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Pachter: Activision Blizzard spinoff 'far more likely' than Vivendi sale

by Alexander Sliwinski on Jul 3rd 2012 8:00AM

Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter has weighed in on recent speculation suggesting Vivendi would get rid of its stake in Activision Blizzard, following mounting reports that the French conglomerate is trying to sell the game publisher.

Although a sale is "likely the preferred route" for Vivendi, Pachter wrote in a investor note, there aren't any "readily apparent buyers." Running through the list of suitors, it's noted that companies like Tencent Holdings have reportedly payed out $400 million and $600 million to acquire Riot Games and a minority stake in Epic Games, respectively, but those numbers still pale in comparison to Activision's worth at over $10 billion.

Acquisitions by Electronic Arts, Time Warner and Disney usually stay below a billion. Viacom did a $500 million write-off on its Harmonix debacle. It's also unlikely that any of the console manufacturers would purchase Activision Blizzard, since they would have to cannibalize sales. Activision's franchises du jour, like current champ Call of Duty, make so much money because they are available on every major platform.

Pachter believes the more likely outcome is a spinoff of Activision Blizzard. It would require some fancy financing on the back end, but it would give Vivendi an estimated $5 billion in cash, easing its personal burden. After the spinoff, Pachter feels Activision's shares would rise according to how much cash the company generates every year, paying off its debts. Wedbush maintains an "outperform" rating for Activision Blizzard.

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Pachter talks Wii 2

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After years of no new video game hardware, 2011 is turning into a big year with the 3DS and Sony's NGP. And eyes are beginning to look to the Wii, which vitally needs an upgrade. But will it be too little too late?

Michael Pachter, one of the most influential voices in the industry, says Nintendo needed to refresh the Wii at least two years ago. If it introduces an incremental upgrade now, it will be too late.

When the Wii came out, the gaming industry was very different. No one was buying console games digitally. No one ever thought they'd need more than 100 GB in their console's hard drive, and the idea of being able to update any problem in the console or game was completely unheard of.

Pachter says Nintendo needs to appreciate that. It can no longer put out a product that doesn't live up to today's standards. The Wii has been grandfathered in to the technology that now encircles the PS3 and Xbox 360 - like online networking and digital proliferation - but a new console has no chance of survival.

"Nintendo can't let Microsoft have a 20 million install base of next-gen consoles and they're still in the last generation. I said in '08 [the Wii HD] was coming, because I really thought the time was right [...] 2010, I think, was the absolute last Christmas they could afford to wait. They had to do it and they didn't. Now, I think it's too late," said Pachter on GTTV's Bonus Round.

"I think they boxed themselves in. No matter what they do, it won't be as successful as the Wii," said Pachter.

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Pachter: Xbox 360 outsold PS3 two-to-one in December; Nintendo reveals numbers

by David Hinkle on Jan 10th 2011 11:00PMWedbush Securities games industry analyst Michael Pachter's magic crystal ball predicts another month of Xbox 360 dominance in the NPD charts. His latest report to IndustryGamers says to expect sales of Microsoft's console to be more than double that of its biggest competitor, the PS3, for December. Prognosticating that the Xbox 360 sold 2.5 million units last month, he's betting on a 91 percent boost in sales over November for Microsoft. As for the PS3, Pachter figures it sold 1.2 million units in December, a 12 percent dip compared to its performance in November.
As for actual real numbers, Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata revealed in an interview with Nikkei (via Andriasang) that the Wii sold over two million units in December. The DS reportedly performed on par with the same period in 2009, which would be somewhere around three million units.
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