"...Nintendo’s life-to-date sell-through of the Wii is very close to life-to-date sell-through of the PS2 through year-end 2002, and we expect Wii sales to surpass PS2 sales in December," he wrote in a research note.
In the U.S., cumulative sales of Wii hardware stand at 15.4 million units. Comparatively, Xbox 360 has sold 12.4 million and PS3 brings up the rear with 6.1 million.
The Wii launched in the U.S. on November 19, 2006. PS2 released in the region on October 26, 2000.
Pachter also said third-party publishers "will manage market share gains on the Wii over the next year," with households adopting more "mainstay" movie-licensed and sports titles on the console. Currently, first-party Nintendo titles such as Wii Fit and Mario Kart are dominating sales charts.
Nintendo's success and videogame sales growth in general led Pachter to reiterate his belief that games are highly recession-resistant, as U.S. videogame retail sales have grown 21 percent through November. He expects December sales to have grown in the low single digits year-on-year due to a tough 2007 comparison.
NPD Group is slated to release U.S. December sales data on January 15.