Gen 6 total install base:  ~210m (PS2+XBX+GC+DC)

Gen 7 PS360: 170m, Wii Nintendo fanbase: 20-25m, 80m Wii owners were non gamers, people who werent into gaming and went over to facebook and mobile games

Gen 7= total 200m install base (it will grow by another 20-25m due to post Gen 8 sales of PS360 so total of 220m)

Gen 8 predictionPS4 110m,  Xbone 50-60m, WiiU 25m = 170-190m install base

Gen 8 down by 40-50m from Gen 7 if we don't count the Wii non-gamers.  This is due to a slight erosion of casual/dudebro/sports crowd losing interest in gaming, and a mix of Nintendo+MS fuckups, unable to keep their Wii60 audience.

Still, the traditional gaming industry should have a big enough audience to go on another gen, 170-190m is huge.  And we dont know what kind of an impact PS Now will have, expanding the industry to non-console devices. MS and Nintendo could follow in the era of streaming. We might see consoles without disc drives to cut costs and undercut competition. At the end of Gen 8 when platform holders cant make their consoles cheaper enough, we might see 50-100 dollar console boxes that only let you play games from the cloud(if PS Now doesnt have PS4 games by then), so sales could increase and get extra life out of it. We will also be able to play PS4 games after 2020 on non-Sony platforms via the service.There is enough money to be made from subscriptions and this is how Sony will keep earning money from its past consoles that have no shelf space at retail.

Expect heavy monetizations to fund big projects, the  publishers learn from the mobile industry.

Info

Non-gamers: people who never played a game before

Casual gamers: dudebros and those who only play Fifa etc

Agreed. Glad the industry got rid of those stupid casuals.

I disagree with the premise of the OP.  To say that almost all Wii owners were non-gamers is silly.  Just my thought.

I bought a Wii along with a PS3 and Xbox 360. The Wii numbers were certainly inflated by people who only bought it for a game or two. Keep in mind that some people bought the 360 for CoD and Madden. The important thing is software sales.

I hoped you wiped those numbers off after pulling them where they came from ;)

I would say I disagree but I don't have much basis for any numbers I would choose.

he probably means gamers who wouldnt necessarily purchase a console to play games.

Casuals killed my dog.

Anyway, the industry didn't get rid of the casuals... is the opposite in fact, why you think Square is taking so much enfasis on mobile games? and other western developers are starting to do the same.

Don't know if you are trolling or not, but this type of comments (which are pretty common on gaming forums) are like if gamers were afraid of "casuals". They have existed since the NES era, don't know why they started to become the devil with the Wii.

It's Turkish, he always bags on Nintendo. 

Anyway I agree with you. There were a LOT of cross Wii/PS3 and Wii/360 owners, and the Wii had a decent share of hardcore gamers. 

@The OP

These numbers are kinda inflated. There were a lot of cross gen owners so just adding up the numbers  won't give you a true amount of core gamers. 

Because before the Wii, only gamers bought consoles!

A decent amount of the PS2 crowd were definitely non-gamers.