Cowen & Company industry watcher estimates US sales for Ubisoft's action-shooter, predicts overall industry sales slide 21 percent.

In a note to investors today, Cowen & Company analyst Doug Creutz estimated United States sales for Far Cry 3 in December totaled 850,000 units. Creutz pointed out that as is normal for the month of December, Far Cry 3 was the only major release for the month.

Creutz also today offered a prediction for the NPD Group's December industry sales report, which will be released tomorrow. He expects overall sales to slide, with software sales diving 20 percent year-on-year and total packaged game sales dipping 21 percent.

Creutz said he expects the most precipitous year-over-year drop to come in the retail PC games category, which he said will fall 51 percent.

Though the present may look bleak, the future is bright, Creutz said. A rebound is expected over the next 12 months due to the expected launch of new consoles from Microsoft and Sony during the second half of the year.

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