Michael Pachter

Pachter, born on January 27, 1956 is often known for his analysis of video game-related topics. He sometimes comments on specific video games, often with sales projections and is also known to also analyze other aspects of the video game industry, such as retailers.

Michael Pachter is an American video game, social media, digital media and electronics analyst with Wedbush Securities. He is also the Head of Research for the Private Shares Group, a Wedbush division which focuses on companies which have not yet gone public such as Facebook (pre-IPO) and Twitter. Pachter has an MBA & two law degrees. Pachter worked for 16 years at Arco where he was Arco's director of strategic planning until mid-1998.

Pachter previously hosted his own online show called Pach-Attack!. He now hosts Pachter Factor on former GameTrailers Editor-in-Chief Shane Satterfield's SIFTD Games. Pachter generated controversy in 2012 with comments about Facebook chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg. He said the CEO's decision to wear a hoodie to an initial public offering-related meeting indicated Zuckerberg's "immaturity." He suggested Zuckerberg should serve as chief product officer instead. While his view accorded with that of much of Wall Street, technology industry critics responded angrily. Technology blogger Kara Swisher called him a "doofus." Pachter explained his statements by saying, "I think that there are institutions that deserve to be shown appropriate respect." He ultimately defended his position, by arguing that "many investors feel the same way that I do."

On October 15, 2016, Pachter referred to former Nintendo president Satoru Iwata as "the late and not so great" in episode 41 of his series Pachter Factor on YouTube, which was criticized by the gaming community. Pachter later apologized on Twitter for "speaking ill of the dead".