Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter expects annual US and European game sales to decline by four per cent this year.

Having forecast in May that combined US and European software sales would grow four per cent in 2009, Pachter attributed his downward revision to lower than expected Wii hardware and game sales.

“In our view, the decline in 2009 occurred as consumers experienced console fatigue in the middle part of the year… The biggest contributor to our lower forecast is a downward revision to our Wii hardware and software sales expectations.”

Pachter expects software sales growth of 11 per cent in 2010 and eight per cent in 2011, “reflecting slightly stronger sales in Europe than in the US”.