Say what you want, Michael Pachter is a stand-up guy.

In a recent, widely-quoted story, the Wedbush-Morgan analyst told GamePolitics that he did not expect sales numbers for Rockstar's Bully to merit a sequel. Newly-released figures from the NPD Group, however, now show strong Bully sales during the holiday season. Based on those numbers, Pachter has done a public 180 on his opinion of the controversial game:

(Bully) sold over double my expectations in December, and Take Two told me the game is selling slightly better in Europe. That means it's probably over one million units, with a few more to go.

Given the very high rating that the game received and its potential for expansion to other platforms, it is realistic to think a sequel could generate two million units in sales. That is generally suffucient to justify a sequel. I'm not competent to discuss whether it can be built using the GTA 4 engine, so it's premature to guess how much a sequel would cost, but if the company thinks it can sell two million units of Bully 2, it will probably produce a sequel.

Please make sure you print my apology to Take Two - I have been consistently wrong about this title. I thought it would be stupid, and it was fun; I thought it would get poor reviews, and it got solid 90s; and I thought it would bomb, while it now appears to be a million unit seller. As a result, I did not expect a sequel, while now I have to acknowledge that a sequel is a possibility. I never hesitate to take credit when I'm right, and I never hide from my mistakes.

GP: We originally ran this on Saturday, January 13th, but we're bumping it into the weekday coverage because we think it is an important story.