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/

Yes so all the chest pounding is useless. Anything can happen.

Doubt ths gen is gonna have 260m console sales and that number includes people that had broken consoles, which I think is gonna be way less prevalent this gen, and people that bought multiple consoles, which I also think is gonna be less prevalent since X1 and PS4 both make u pay for online so most people will just pick one.

Maybe thats cause Sony cannot fully meet demand on the ps4, Xbox One is too expensive to justify the price and the wiiU's marketing as well as the appeal of the hardware isn't that great?

PS: I think its not gonna sell as much as the 7th gen but it might sell more than the 6th gen

But will it? doubt it.

this is an odd thread... console sales were artificially inflated last gen due to the wii's 'blue ocean' strategy. Sony and Microsoft will do just as well, if not better, than they did last gen.

this isn't the next gen lol, The title should be 100% doesn't own a next gen console

I love how statistics always try and paint a picture that those 260 million or whatever number is UNIQUE consumers.

Like 150 UNIQUE people owned a PS2. You know completely ignoring the fact that I and many other bought the PS2 and its different versions 5 times or more

Or the fact that I and many other own a 360, ps3 and Wii.

But no, lets make some random prediction or statement by having the total # be all UNIQUE consumers and no duplicates at all.

What a reveal, oh my god!

It's almost like next gen just launched...