Well, it’s almost NPD time again, and this month should continue a trend for the interesting; July’s numbers showed the PS3’s inability to beat the 360 even after a hundred dollar price cut on one model of the system, while August showed a precipitous drop in PS3 sales from the previous month while the 360 posted solid numbers amid a phenomenal showing for both Bioshock and Madden 2008 on the system. Meanwhile, the Wii continued to coast along on word of mouth and the excitement of scarcity, while its highest profile title in months posted a surprisingly subdued first week of sales.
This summer has defied conventional logic, with solid sellers for June, July, and August. But September is where things are going to get really interesting. The 360 entered the month at a lower hardware price, and a new SKU released. Then of course, there’s the release of Halo 3, which many have long stipulated would be a mover of consoles for the platform. Meanwhile, one of the PS3’s most anticipated games debuted this month to terrible critical reception, and the weight fell on Heavenly Sword to pick up the slack and hopefully boost the PS3’s hardware numbers. Michael Pachter is now going so far as to predict that the 360 might even beat the Wii in sales numbers this month for the first time in almost a year:
(more…)