Activision: Wii Sales to Grow by 15 Million Units in '09

Following the second quarter fiscal results, Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith spoke during a conference call about the state of the hardware business. He noted that the installed base for current-gen systems (including handhelds) in North America and Europe as of June 30 was at 179 million units, representing an increase of 54% year-over-year. "However, for the quarter console sales were weak and were down 37% in the U.S. year-over-year," he said. "Interestingly, in the U.S. the two consoles that have not cut price are down roughly 50% year-over-year, while the two that have cut price over the last year are down less than 1%."

With that in mind, Griffith said that Activision is adjusting its hardware installed base projections in North America and Europe for calendar 2009 to the following:

PlayStation 3:  Up 7 million units

Xbox 360: Up 9 million units

Wii: Up more than 15 million units

Handhelds: Up in excess of 21 million units.

He said these projections reflect a reduction in console estimates by about a million units, so the company now expects the installed base of current-gen consoles and handhelds to grow by more than 52 million units during the year.

As for software, Griffith said that Activision has revised its estimates to reflect software sales to be flat or even down this year (which is similar to what EA's John Riccitiello stated). That said, "triple-A launch pricing will continue to hold throughout the holiday season," he commented. Top software titles are expected to "benefit disproportionately," Griffith said, and of course Activision knows it has several of those top titles. Clearly, the tide is not lifting all boats; the video game industry continues to be hits-driven.