Pachter: Sep. Games Sales Up 47pct on Halo 3, 450k Xbox360s

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter believes that Halo 3 acted as a catalyst for bumper software sales through September, with Microsoft the obvious beneficiary in terms of moving games and Xbox 360 hardware.

Ahead of NPD's forthcoming announcement of September sales statistics, which Pachter expects to be released Thursday October 18, the analyst forecast software sales of $655 million, up 47 percent year-over-year.
The estimate reflects $530 million in sales contribution from new platforms (PS3, Wii, 360, PSP and DS), including $300 million in software sales for the Xbox 360, and current generation software sales of $125 million.

On the home console hardware front, Pachter predicts that Microsoft shifted 450,000 Xbox 360 units during September, in comparison to 425,000 Wii consoles and 150,000 PS3s, and forecasts growth throughout the holiday period.

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