Microsoft believes that the entertainment options available with next generation consoles could see as many as one billion units being sold according to an interview with Official Xbox Magazine.
Yusuf Mehdi, the senior vice-president of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business, commented "Every generation, as you've probably heard, has grown approximately 30%. So this generation is about 300 million units. Most industry experts thing the next generation will get upwards of about 400 million units. That's if it's a game console, over the next decade."
In fact, Mehdi says that Microsoft expects the entertainment services available with PS4 and Xbox One will more than double their retail impact "We think you can bo broader than a game console, that's our aim, and you can go from 400 million to potentially upwards of a billion units. That's how we're thinking of the Xbox opportunity as we go forward."
Mehdi has also revealed that Microsoft expect to sell 100 million Xbox 360s, an increase of around 25 million, over the next several years. The Wii has already reached that milestone and based on sales' projection the PlayStation 3 will hit 100 million around 2016.
Both the Xbox One and the PS4 are expected to be launched later this year.
Below is a graph demonstrating Microsoft's projections for next-gen systems courtesy of Xbox Wire.
