Currently Online 
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Anyway, the PS3 & 360 had a further advantage in that the OXbox was discontinued early for reasons largely outside MS's control. There's no way of knowning how well the Xbox might have sold had it remained in production in 2006 and beyond. And if the Xbox wasn't terminated prematurely, the 360 might not have come out when it did, and if it released at the same time the PS3 & Wii did there's not telling what the last-gen sales trajectory would have looked like. But it does show one thing: that the phrase "fastest-selling console ever" doesn't mean a whole lot. The PS4 had that title for only a few months in the U.S. before ceding it back to the Wii in August 2014. I actually was attempting to make a post on that subject the other day, but the power went out. As for the current generation, it is definitely looking to be a lot more front-loaded than last generation, but not as front-loaded as PS2+Xbox sales were. The PS4 & XBO have struggled with sales growth outside the holidays, with nearly all their combined YoY growth coming from the holidays. Next year may end up being the point where Q1-Q3 sales finally experience strong growth. As you can see from my lead/deficit charts in my previous post, nearly all of the lead PS4+XBO sales have over PS3+360 sales comes from the holidays, while all of their deficit vs PS2+OXbox sales comes from non-holidays months, especially the period from last May running up to, well, right about now thanks to the PS2's massive boost from its first price cut. The PS4 & XBO had record-setting launch holidays, and they've also had extremely strong holiday period sales in 2014 & 2015, but Q1-Q3 sales have been relatively flat these past three years. The Q1-Q3 period in 2015 was up only 2.6% from 2014, and this year it was down 5% from last year. The Xbox and especially 360 had problems with slow growth early in their lives, and the XBO is following suit, while the PS4 took longer to get a price cut than any prior PlayStation system, and that first price cut was the smallest in both absolute and relative terms for any PS system, and as a result the PS4 got only a modest boost from it that fizzled out by March. The PS4 & XBO still have a lot of potential for more sales growth with both slim and upgraded 4K/HDR/VR-capable models as well as continued price reductions. I think 2017 will see them reach peak sales, with 2018 remaining strong as well, before we see a clear shift toward their terminal decline phase starting in Q2 2019. But we may also see increased emphasis on holiday promotional sales to generate the bulk of YoY sales growth. Q4 was historically about half the year's sales, but that fraction appears to be growing. |
TRhis generation is probably more front-loaded compared to the last generation because of the third party support and online integration. Third parties supported the PS2 years after the PS3 came out so many people probably stayed on those consoles. This gen m,ost third parties starting phasing out their big games in early 2015 with the only third party games coming to last gen were lazy ports(BO3) or sports games. This probably got people to buy the 8th gen systems. As for Online people might have seen their xbox360 or PS3 friends moved on to the xb1 or ps4 so they bought these consoles to continue to play with friends.
I think this year will probably be the PS4s peak. The Pro is doing really well, and I believe were going to see a $250 PS4 Slim. The PS4 also had big games like UC4. Next year for Xbox because of the S effect Scorpio, halo wars 2 and other games. Next year will probably be a huge year for console sales due to the slims, the enhanced consoles, and NX.
