Speaking ahead of NPD hardware data, Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter has said that Sony’s PlayStation 3 has managed to outsell the Xbox 360 for the month of February 2008 in the US.
Providing these claims materialise accurately, it would mark the second time the PS3 has successfully outsold its Microsoft counterpart in the region after doing so in January.
The race would ultimately prove to be a close call between the two platforms, however, with Patchter predicting sales of 260,000 and 250,000 for the PS3 and Xbox 360, respectively.
Elsewhere, the analyst also forecast sales of 225,000 for the PlayStation Portable, and 245,000 for the PlayStation 2.
"In January, PS3 hardware demand continued to improve, and we believe that PS3 sales will gain momentum over the balance of the year with the victory of the Blu-ray format over HD-DVD," said Pachter.
"Xbox 360 hardware sales were relatively weaker, with the company stating that it experienced shortages caused by misjudging holiday demand. We expect the Xbox 360 shortage to continue in February, and have forecast relatively flat month-over-month sales."
Pachter added that he expects software revenues to rise 27 per cent over the previous year to USD 575 million.
Full NPD figures will be released on March 13.