Lazard: January Sales Up 25-30 Percent On WarioWare

In his latest investor notes, Lazard Capital Markets' Colin Sebastian expects the NPD's January sales results released February 15th to show a 25-30 percent rise, driven by Capcom's Lost Planet and Nintendo's WarioWare. Said Sebastian, "On a year- over-year basis, our 'back-of-the-envelope' directional forecast suggests software sales could be up in the 25%- 30% range — a solid start to the new year — driven by incremental sales of next-generation software (Xbox 360, Wii and PS3), ongoing Sony PS2 and Nintendo DS game sales, and an extra week in 2007 data." In addition to Lost Planet and WarioWare, Sebastian also expects Electronic Arts' NCAA March Madness to be another console top-seller for January, along with catalog titles Legend of Zelda, WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2007, Call of Duty, Gears of War, and Ubisoft's Rainbow Six Vegas. Looking at individual publishers, Sebastian said the group expects Activision's sell through could be up by as much as 40 percent in January on sales of Guitar Hero 2 and Call of Duty 3, with a 'robust lineup' of 2008 movie franchise titles including Spider-Man, Shrek, Bee Movie and Transformers as well as key internal franchises Tony Hawk, Guitar Hero and Call of Duty. Electronic Arts is expected to see flat or very slight rises in Jaunary sales with NCAA March Madness, Need for Speed: Carbon, Fight Night Round 3 and Madden NFL 07, though a "strengthening product lineup" should "lead to a year of solid growth." Finally, Sebastian said THQ's sales should be up as much as 50 percent for the month, with WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2007, Saints Row, Destroy All Humans 2 and its third party DS and Wii franchises leading sales, with new RTS Supreme Commander, Ratatouille and Frontlines Fuel of War leading another good year for THQ along with sequels of its existing WWE Smackdown, Juiced, Stuntman franchises along with its Nickelodeon-branded titles.