Sony’s PlayStation 4 will join the ranks of its predecessors the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 and sell more than 100 million units, MCV reports based on a DFC Intelligence analysis.
Only five consoles have ever sold that many – the Nintendo DS, GameBoy, Wii, PlayStation, and PlayStation 2, which remains the best selling system in history. The PS3 and Xbox 360 both stand at around 85 to 90 million consoles.
DFC’s 2015 estimates for PS4 sales proved to be accurate, while its predictions for Wii and Xbox One were slightly short. A surge in digital game sales is predicted going forward, thanks partly to the expanding market for indie publishers and developers that digital sales have presented.
The company predicts the PS4 and Xbox One will generate $20 billion in annual games revenue by 2019, at which point 50 percent of game sales will be digital.
DFC adds that it’s highly difficult to predict how VR and Nintendo will perform over the next few years.
“DFC believes Nintendo is still a major player to watch in the game market but thinks that the company may not be ready to launch a new game system at this time,” it said. “The other area to watch is the potential entry of new companies in the game space, especially Amazon, Apple or Google. These are all major factors that have resulted in a lowering of expectations for all manufacturers except Sony.
“Of course, virtual reality (VR) is currently the big news item and its potential impact was examined. Overall VR is not expected to have a big impact on the console market. Sony has the biggest VR play with the PlayStation VR but that is only one of several reasons why the PlayStation 4 is expected to be the leading game system over the next few years.
“VR could actually help the PS4 expand its audience over the next few years but it is currently not crucial to the overall forecasts as DFC is taking a conservative attitude towards the market.”
To date, Sony has sold more than 36 million PS4 systems. The console launched in November 2013.