PS3 to Remain in Short Supply Through Summer

[BreakingBacks]

http://www.industrygamers.com/news/ps3- ... s-analyst/



In advance of this Thursday's March video game sales data from The NPD Group, Lazard Capital Markets' Colin Sebastian said he expects March to finally show industry sales moving in the right direction after months of decline. He believes software sales will be somewhere in the range of flat to up five percent thanks to a relatively easy comparison vs. last year (-16%) and solid sales of games like Battlefield Bad Company 2, God of War III, Final Fantasy XIII, and Pokemon Heart.

That said, some analysts are predicting even bigger gains for March, but Sebastian feels that "hardware supply constraints have restricted sell-through of titles such as GOW and FFXIII."

Indeed, Sebastian noted, "One of the ironies in the video game industry is the short supply of console hardware — Wii and PS3 — even as sluggish sales trends persist at retail. While Wii supplies are improving, according to our checks, we believe that the PS3 may remain in short supply through the summer, as Sony underestimated demand and also may be preparing for internal hardware upgrades."