Pachter: November U.S. Retail Sales Surpassed $1.5B

Ahead of the November NPD Group U.S. retail video game console software sales data, due to be released on December 8, analyst group Wedbush Securities has estimated that software sales for the month surpassed $1.5 billion in total. This figure is up 3 percent compared to $1.45 billion year-over-year, noted Wedbush's Michael Pachter, meaning that November saw the third consecutive month of positive growth in the U.S.. Pachter suggested that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will lead software sales in November, followed by The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Uncharted 3 and Saints Row: The Third. In terms of hardware, Pachter said that he expects Wii unit sales were down 17 percent year-over-year, with 1.1 million sold in total, while Nintendo DS sales were down 50 percent to 750,000 total, and the Nintendo 3DS sold 760,000 units. The Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 will both see an increase in units sales year-over-year, he said, with the Xbox 360 selling 1.4 million units, up 5 percent, and the PS3 selling 750,000 units, up 41 percent year-over-year. Despite strong sales in November, Pachter said last week that it is "almost a certainty" that 2011 will end up as a third consecutive year of declining software sales for U.S. video game retail.