Pachter Blames Nintendo and gamer fatigue for poor 2012 sales

Michael Pachter, analyst at Wedbush Morgan, has mentioned that the reason why 2012 was poor sales-wise for all the three platform holders was because of gamer fatigue.

He pointed out that Call of Duty sales declined by 20%, and plenty of games underperformed and also blamed the slow hardware sales for an overall poor year.

“It is clear to us that those companies who primarily focused on traditional gamers were largely unscathed by the declines over the last few years, and those same companies will disproportionately benefit once traditional gamers drive industry sales into positive territory in 2014 and beyond,” he said.

He was optimistic about 2013 and revealed that games like GTA 5 will result in an overall increased software performance and he also expects the next-gen to significantly correct this downward trend.

He said that an “unprecedented number of new IP launches in the first two years of the cycle, providing relief from gamer fatigue.”

Nintendo was also very poor in 2012, he said. That’s why the year was a bit weak with the Wii completely fading away and the 3DS doing poorly in the west. He said that the Wii U has sold decently in November but there hasn’t been enough satisfaction among analyst at its performance.

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Thanks, GI.Biz.