!!!!!LATE BREAKING NEWS!!!!!

Console gaming is not dead.  You heard it here first, a VGChartz exclusive!

Let's not beat around the bush.  Some analysts have claimed since the last console generation, console gaming was on a decline if not claiming it was on its was out.  WRONG!  And everyone makes his share of mistakes, but there was very little substance to go by.  If anything, console gaming is on an incline especially when considering fierce competition from the smartphone sector.

Microsoft

The Xbox One has exceeded sale of the Xbox 360 while the Xbox 360 has exceeded sales of the original Xbox console.  No decline here.

Sony

The PS4 is selling at roughly 2:1 of the Xbox One with the PS4 Pro just around the corner.  And it's arguable to say that the PS4 just might exceed PS2 sales.  If the Xbox brand isn't in a decline, the PlayStation certainly isn't.

Nintendo

Nintendo just announced the SWITCH.  No one knows yet how successful it would be, and yes, the WiiU was a sales failure.  But the Wii had the highest marketshare of its generation regardless of sales dropping off sharply later during that generation.  There's no reason to be overy pessimistic about the Switch, and at the very lease, Nintendo consoles have always has its strong core userbase based on their 1st party offerings.

I've seen nothing but optimissim for console gaming and never understood the more recent pessimism towards the growth of the market.  We've had the gaming crash in the early 80's, Nintendo loosing its reign during the 32/64 bit days, and Sony using the expensive PS3 as "trojan horse" for Blu-Ray.  But nothing has been consistant enough to dictate a decline in the console market.  But one consistancy I've noticed is that console gaming is being more accepted by the mainstream.  That's a double-edged sword that's for another discussion.  But console gaming is becoming more and more a major sector of the entertainment industry.

At least in Sweden console gaming gets less shelf space all the time. Last generation gaming was the centerpiece of the electronics stores. This generation the shelf space shrinks every year. Games are also moved from the best positions in the stores to less visible places.

This is the true. PC is increasing ground in Sweden, from a position of dominance to a position of even stronger dominance.

Are you mentioning this as a good thing? Less exposure means the industry will make less overall, less money less games. Whether on PC or not.

It's proven multiple times this gen already that the publishers and analysts were wrong on certain aspects. Let them be wrong, we as gamers decide the industry as a whole with our spending.

you do like the swedish market is comparable to the rest of europe

I'm sorry, but if that's what you're going off of, you don't know what you're talking about.

Huh? After 3 years the PS3 was at 30m and the 360 at 21m.

I believe I read somewhere that Sony said that the PS4 will earn them more profit than the PS2, and profit are more important that units sold.  That's very understandable.  And even though I posted a recent article of Xbox One with a slight decline in hardware sales year over year, it's still doing better than the Xbox 360.  And look how far the Xbox One has come after their first year long debacle.  Now, I wouldn't say I have high hopes for the Xbox One, but like the past year, Microsoft is going to do what they can to make the Xbox One stay revelant.  And I personally see handhelds and home consoles very differently from an aesthetical pov.  So any decline in the handheld market I've always seen as separate from consoles.

a baseless prediction tough

I agree that this generation won't be as long, however I don't think sale will decrease faster, in fact I think the ps4 will continue to sell faster than the ps3 and have strong sales until the end of it's life.

PS4 should easily reach 80 million, outselling the Wii is a possibility.