Lazard Raises Wii, PS2, PS3 Yearly Sales On 'Healthy' First Quarter

In his latest note to investors, Lazard's Colin Sebastian has predicted further industry growth than previously stated, including a 1.5 million rise in Wii sales to 8.5 million, and bumped sales projections for Sony's PS2 and PS3. Sebastian raised total growth over the year to 17 percent from 13 percent, "based on healthy year-to-date industry sales (software +40% in 1Q) and increasing visibility into a strong product release schedule over the remainder of the year." Looking at specific hardware, apart from the rise in Wii sales, Sebastian raised DS estimates from 5.9 to 6.4 million, PS2 from 2.5 to 3 million, and PlayStation 3 estimates from 4.5 to 4.7 million. Sebastian has also said that Lazard expects "solid" fourth quarter results, led by Burnout Paradise, Army of Two and Rock Band. He added that THQ's lower than expected sales of Frontlines should be offset by solid sales of WWE Smackdown, and added that Activision's fiscal 2009 guidance could be "slightly better than consensus expectations."