Sony no longer reporting PS4 shipments, Final Official total 117.00m

[Bofferbrauer2]

Kyuu said:

Bofferbrauer2 said:

I'm sure many of them have had a look at the statistics and see that the chances that the PS5 outselling the PS4 would break some established trends.

Playstation + Xbox sales taken together have always amounted to ~175M each gen:

1. PS2+Xbox: 183M
2. PS3+360: 173M
3. PS4+XBO: 168M

Meaning if the Xbox is stronger, then the Playstation sells less as a result. Since the XS is selling much better than it's direct predecessor, unless this gen breaks with the model it established the 3 previous generations, PS5 should sell less than the PS4 did.

That being said, there are some unknowns that could alter this a bit: How long this generation will be can have an effect for instance, if there will be some mid-gen upgrades like the PS4 Pro last gen, and so on. So far, noting shows that this gen will deviate from the previous generations, but time will tell if this will stay the same.

Another thing to note is that the Playstation + Xbox total has been dropping a bit each generation. This trend will have to be reversed for there to be any chance for the PS5 to outsell the PS4 since the XS will almost certainly outsell the XBO.

"So far, noting shows that this gen will deviate from the previous generations"

Demand for PS5 and Series consoles is much greater than PS4 and Xbox One. If this is considered "nothing", then what isn't?

If there is one concern to PS and/or Xbox eventually declining, it'd have to be PC. In the long run, PC may prove a bigger threat to console sales than either console is to the other, because it's virtually getting everything... games, accessibility, convenience, continued free online, and even portability. PC is just too appealing of a platform that you don't really need trends to recognize its potential to steal console gamers in very large numbers. It's kind of been happening for a while actually, I know a lot of console gamers who switched to PC ever since the start of the last generation.

Demand was much greater due to Covid. Not sure if it is still that much greater than PS4/XBO at the same time period after launch.

Also, this could just mean that the systems are more front-loaded. Having a big start doesn't have to mean it will last for a long while, just look at the Wii.

As for the PC part, I think that's the reason why Playstation plus Xbox totals have been constantly dropping each generation, but I don't think the PC will cut the legs of this gen short.