Analysts Share Wii and PS3 Expectations

The Japanese game industry is seeing some interesting times, with the Wii and DS dominating the sales charts while Sony's platforms falter. Famitsu recently asked analysts with Japanese firms Daiwa Securities, Nomura Securities and Mitsubishi UFJ Securities to share their thoughts on how things are shaping up for the game market as the 2007 fiscal year winds down.

Daiwa Securities' Eiji Maeda pointed to Gundam Musou and Virtua Fighter 5 as key software titles for the end of the fiscal year. He believes that sales of these two titles are important for the PlayStation 3 as a whole, and that other software manufacturers should be paying attention to them. Nomura's Yuta Sakurai also made mention of Gundam Musou as a key title for the end of the term, but added Monster Hunter Portable 2nd to the list. He feels that this game will push PSP hardware.

Everyone seems to be down on the PS3 and up on the Wii. Maeda believes Sony won't be able to get actual sales of six million PS3s by the end of the term. In contrast, he believes Nintendo will be able to ship out six million Wii units (2 million to Japan, 3 million to America, 1 million to Europe) and that the demand for the system won't die down for some time. Sakurai believes Sony's worldwide PS3 shipments will reach the 4.5 million mark, and stop there, while Nintendo will be able to ship 6.5 million systems. He also feels that the Wii supply problem won't clear up by the end of the term.

UFJ's Hiroshi Murakami thinks that the current retail state, where PS3's are readily available and Wii is nowhere to be found, will continue for a while. The Summer of 2007 will be the biggest fight for the PS3, he believes. Murakami believes strongly in the scenario of the PS3 being the number one system 3 to 5 years from now, and expects this state to come into view at the end of 2007.

Outside of the next generation, the analysts offers some interesting thoughts on the DS. Sakurai believes that the system saw its Japanese sales peak in 2006 and that sales will gradually go down from here on. However, he believes that the system's flame was lit in Europe over the holiday season, and that 2007 will be the breakout year over there. Murakami believes that while the DS's success will continue throughout the term, the end of 2007 is a bit unclear. There's the possibility that the light users will move away from the system. He feels that Dragon Quest IX will be the big test.

via ign