Analyst: PS3 continues to lack a clear 'must-own' title that will drive sales

Cowen analyst Doug Creutz says he has lowered his expectation to toward PlayStation 3 for the year ahead as he doesn't believe the console has any bona fide system sellers.

"Although there appears to be a reasonably robust slate of games for the PlayStation 3 this year, Sony continues to lack a clear 'must-own' title that will drive sales, while its platform continues to be the most expensive in the market in the midst of a consumer slowdown," he said.

"Meanwhile, highly publicized platform initiatives such as Home have failed to get off the ground."

His overall assessment of 2008 was just as damning saying: "Following another year in which PS3 unit sales lagged behind the Wii and Xbox 360, it is now clear that Sony has failed to establish the PS3 as the console of choice among hardcore gamers this cycle."

Creutz now expects PlayStation 3 to sell 4 million units in 2009, compared to his previous forecast of 6.25.

Read the public resaerch note in full at Gama.

By Mike Bowden