Speaking to MCV, Sony Computer Entertainment president Andrew House has predicted that the PS4 will outsell its predecessor.
While both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 have sold 80 million units to date that's something of a comedown from the 120 million original PlayStation systems and 155 million PlayStation 2s sold.
Sony is hoping to improve its position with the PS4. House said the lower price point of the PS4 compared to the PS3 and new markets for games consoles will help drive this growth.
“It has an opportunity to significantly exceed what we’ve been able to achieve with PS3 and there’s a couple of reasons for that, We start off with a price point that is much more consumer friendly than was there for the PS3.
“Also, one of the success stories for the business as a whole has been our ability to open up new geographies for video games over the last five years. You are seeing opportunities for new markets that we haven’t tapped into."
He also said that the range of non-gaming apps available at launch will be expanded upon and offers a better package overall which is more appealling.
“The other point is that we took several years to take PS3 from being a dual function device to a multi-functional entertainment device. PS4 arrives with a full suite of those non-game entertainment services right from day one.
“And that’s important because there will be someone who wants this as a games device, but the fact it is a great place to view BBC iPlayer, for example, gives other family members reason to use it. That is crucial in broadening what the console’s reach could be.”
Sony has so far confirmed sales of 2.1 million for the PlayStation 4 – breaking sales records for console launches in the process – while both Take Two and Ubisoft have predicted that the PS4 and Xbox One will have larger lifetime sales than previous consoles.
Earlier this year, Microsoft predicted sales of the new consoles to reach 400 million and possibly one billion units.
