Last generation seen a total over over 260 million consoles sold across the 3 major consoles. That current figure for the ‘next-gen’ is currently sitting at just over 15 million. This means that less than 10% (closer to 5%) of gamers who owned a Wii, PS3 or Xbox 360 have one of the three new consoles. Of course, this doesn’t mean doom and gloom for any of the consoles considering their short life span, but it does mean that pretty much all of the market is up for grabs and we shouldn’t be too concerned by how a console is performing just yet.
What does this mean?
The current failure of the Wii has time to be reversed. Likewise, the Xbox One could pick up steam and take on the PS4 globally. With much internet flaming taking place from each camp, gamers must accept that the current hardware sales are a reflection of the battle and not the war. Those celebrating an early victory for Sony may yet be making a fool of themselves. I’m going to make a bold prediction and suggest that 2014 may yet be the year that Nintendo climbs back in to the frame, however if Mario Kart flops I shall be instantly retracting that statement.
Will current systems match sales numbers of old?
Probably not, we have a lot more choice as to what platform we choose these days. The rise of tablets and smartphones will undoubtedly severely dent console hardware sales. The decline in console hardware by numbers is illustrated on the graph below and shows a steady decline over the years.
source: vgchartz.com
Conclusion
Console gaming is undeniably losing a lot of market share to other gaming mediums. Surprisingly, only Microsofts Xbox One had the biggest launch in their personal console history. As the console market is shrinking the public may decide that 3 is a crowd and Nintendo looks the most frail at the minute. What would make YOU buy a next-gen console? and which side are you leaning towards?
http://videogamedebate.com/2014/02/27/how-many-people-have-ps4-xbox-one/
