The market had been growing steadily ever since the 80s. I don't see any signs pointing to that development slowing down. So if you ask me, it's really just a bigger market than 10 years ago.

I say 2016-2017 is when the XB1 and PS4 peak. So no, they aren't frontloaded. They peak around the middle of this gen. But the 360 and PS3 lasted far longer, and peak in 2011-2012, so yes they're more frontloaded, but that's because the last gen was abnormal.

The question is whether or not they are more front-loaded than PS3/360. Those devices peaked in their 5th/6th years, that would mean 2018 or later would have to be the peak years for PS4/XB1.

I agree with you that the market is a little more front loaded (even more because I don't think X1 will come close to X360 sales). But I also believe X1+PS4 will sell more than X360+PS3, so I would say we may get a sales profile with both topping in year 3 and then continuous drop. Similar pattern as PS2 gen, but without the long tail.

I think that playstation 4's peak year will be 2018, or 2019, because we will have Final Fantasy 7, And Grand Theft Auto 6, the majority of sales of those games will be on Playstation 4, the Xbox One, i think that will start to sell on a rate of 4.1 in favor to Playstation 4, because of VR, and heavy exclusives.

and i think that GTA VI, will be the biggest game this gen, so will move the most sales on both hardware, and software, even today GTA V, still moving hardware sales.

Final Fantasy VII will be big for sure but Final Fantasy XV & Dragon Quest XI will already be out by then, along with various spinoffs and smaller JRPGs, meaning a very large percentage of people interested in FFVII will likely have already purchased a PS4 by the time it releases.

And I agree Grand Theft Auto VI will likely be the biggest game of the generation, but like u said GTAV is still moving hardware, the more it sells means the more people who are interested in GTAVI will already have a PS4/XB1. According to this site, GTAV has sold about 14 million on PS4/XB1 compared to about 36 million on PS3/360. A pretty large percentage of GTA fans already have a PS4/XB1.

I'm not saying these games won't have a large affect on hardware, just that as the generation goes on, individual games affect on hardware decreases. I don't see either console peaking after 2017.

I used to think they were front loaded but not so much anymore. Despite not being a huge leap, gamers are going to game. They will purchase the most capable hardware available to them and offers new games to play. Until next gen (Or we see what Nintendo offers), that hardware is the PS4 and XBO.

Gaming is becoming even more mainstream, we will have better predictions with the numbers of 2016's Holidays.

^ this.

Alot of those sales belonged to nintendo... but they didnt manange to get them.

The Wii U is just a gen behinde in terms of hardware & features, and its causing it issues.