Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter believes a contributing factor to lower-than-expected software sales was a preponderance of bundled games for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation Portable. "In the aggregate, these bundles represented over 600,000 units of games that were purchased by consumers and which were not counted in the NPD software numbers for the month because the software was included 'inside the box' as part of the bundle," he said.
However, prediction market the simExchange also noted that sales were lower simply because some titles did not perform to expectations. In particular, Insomniac Games' high-profile PS3-exclusive title Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, which released October 23, hasn't thus far lived up to sales expectations.
"Ratchet & Clank Future sold only 74,500 units in October, well below an already low market expectation of 129,000 units," said simExchange analyst Jesse Divnich. In comparison, Insomniac's PS3 launch title Resistance: Fall of Man sold nearly 71,000 last November, with lifetime-to-date sales at nearly 700,000, according to NPD.
Divnich believes that continued lackluster performances from PS3-exclusive titles are having a negative impact on hardware sales for the Japanese giant. As such, Divnich believes a lot is riding on Naughty Dog's Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. "Sony does have one last chance to prove itself in 2007 with its first-party titles with Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, which the prediction market expects 286,000 units sold in December." Uncharted officially ships out November 19, though some retailers appear to already be stocking the anticipated action adventure.
