Even slightly would not get you close to even past gens 

XBox 360 + PS3 = 172 million (not even including Wii here)

PS2 + GameCube + XBox = 202 million approx.

PS1 + N64 + Saturn = 142.26 million

PS4 + XBox One = 175 mill approx (won't include Wii U even)

They might beat the PS1 + N64 generation, but that's about it and that was like 25 years ago now. This is not great growth. 

obviously PC gaming is becoming much bigger and switch is also competition  its a home console as well.

I think kids are not playing on these higher end devices and not compelled to buy these consoles. I think smartphones are also eating up more of younger gamers gaming diets, more than people here want to admit. I can't do it, but I see kids even playing FPS CoD games on touchscreen smartphones ringing up head shots like it's nothing to them. It's a very different generation coming on up, they don't consume or look at games in the same way. They don't really care as much about graphics either, that's part of the problem, it's mainly old farts raised in the 80s/90s/2000s who are concerned with that but that's a demographic that's not getting younger. 

It's not a terrible number but it's a number that seems to be a roof for them and obviously far below the PS2 highs. 

My other concern with that number would be surely if XBox is bleeding customers you would expect Sony to rise but it doesn't seem to be the case, Sony is just selling their normal amount even as the Xbox brand burns into irrelevance. 

Are we headed to a norm where like Sony sells 110 million consoles/gen, XBox is gone entirely and that's just it? That's a far cry from even the days of the PS3 + 360 when they sold 172 million consoles. 

I think kids are not playing on these higher end devices and not compelled to buy these consoles. I think smartphones are also eating up more of younger gamers gaming diets, more than people here want to admit. I can't do it, but I see kids even playing FPS CoD games on touchscreen smartphones ringing up head shots like it's nothing to them. It's a very different generation coming on up, they don't consume or look at games in the same way. They don't really care as much about graphics either, that's part of the problem, it's mainly old farts raised in the 80s/90s/2000s who are concerned with that but that's a demographic that's not getting younger. 

Not much growth in this sector at all, falling behind the PS4 now and failing to hit even the 21 million target they set after revising down from 25 million initially, XBox also obviously declining. And it looks like Sony sees the PS5 as already having peaked even with PS5 Pro next year, forecasing down sales. You would think PS would benefit from a weaker XBox and suck in those buyers, maybe they are but they're still below their sales targets, which indicates they're not doing as well with other demographics. With XBox declining that 120 million PS4s + 55 million-ish XBox Ones would turn into maybe 140 million PS5s but that doesn't seem to be happening. Both are declining. Stationary home consoles are stuck basically in the same number tier they were like 15 years ago, which isn't great when you have budgets of the games increased by like 10x since then. Don't think these are the platforms younger gamers really use as their go to, they're playing stuff like Fortnite, Minecraft, Roblox, etc. on their phones or cheapo PCs. These types of home consoles are becoming more for aging 30-40 somethings (soon to be 50+ year olds). I notice younger kids are not as focused on these types of consoles anymore. They're still selling a good chunk, but it's definitely not a growing sector and I think they're stuck with an aging demographic and these types of consoles are not holding the same sway with younger demographics. 

It's not a terrible number but it's a number that seems to be a roof for them and obviously far below the PS2 highs. My other concern with that number would be surely if XBox is bleeding customers you would expect Sony to rise but it doesn't seem to be the case, Sony is just selling their normal amount even as the Xbox brand burns into irrelevance. Are we headed to a norm where like Sony sells 110 million consoles/gen, XBox is gone entirely and that's just it? That's a far cry from even the days of the PS3 + 360 when they sold 172 million consoles. 

I think graphics still play a huge role other wise ps5 would have failed cause all of its games are on ps4, but the biggest problem mainly for xbox and but also effecting ps5 is switch still selling great for 400$ since  2020 that has never happened before, usually a nintendo handheld would be 100$ 150$ right now tops so that's hurting ps5/xbox cause it cost basically just as much, then you also have PC becoming huge and it makes sense. kids and parents are gonna choose pokemon and mario over what sony and Microsoft offers any day no matter how inferior and over priced the hardware is. 

Very good comment, I absolutely agree with you here. Even though I like PS, and even Xbox, the peak and maybe even the reason if you want, I loved both of the systems was exactly their peak products, or generations if you will (PS3&360). It is only downwards in every possible way since then. Growth ? It's only on the decline by every criteria. And the sales used to be in a growth or this was the general consensus at least,  (by speed in the sales life) but if you look real after all is said and done PS4&XB1 only barely match the PS360, and now the PS5&XBSX are probably ending way worse than those 170-175M of units. (By the way PS360 number is 173M, not 172M). Because of the Xbox mostly of course, however PS5 doing worse than PS4 is not excluded as well. I am 50/50 here, cuz till now the sales are almost equal. It can go either way. I can also see PS5 doing better because the end years of PS4 were very bad. The years till 2018 PS5 will probably match them easily. (only 2 to go). 2019 is 14M and if there aren't next gen consoles announced by 2026 and even 2027, PS5 doing more than 14M I think it's not so hard and PS5 doing more than 8M in 2027 also is easy. For example PS5 announcement came very early, as early as the peak period of PS4 - 2018. This in my opinion was big mistake and if this didn't happen till let's say summer of 2020 (how it should've been) PS4 would surely sold at least 5 maybe even 10M more in this period (2018-2020). So the catch you are talking about can be easily done, but not in the peak year (I assume 2023 to 2026) but in it's later years after 2026 where PS4 sold 14, 8, and 2M units respectively. Why they doubt themselves is beyond me. It's stupid and a sign of weakness and uncertainty. About the PS5 Pro, personally I am 50/50 if they will launch it this holiday, or will wait till next year. However there is a chance they launch in the next year, and why not the next fiscal year even. (after march 2025). GTA VI also is coming 2026. This is a well known fact from beginning. And logical one with that too. GTA V launched end of 2013, and was announced end of 2011. 2 Years. GTA VI was announced end of 2023. The 2 years gap is end of 2025. However the games took way more time then 10 years ago to develop and release, GTA VI is much bigger game, every following GTA has taken more time to develop than the previous and every next on of them has take more time between announcement and release too. Also every other big Rockstar games in the last 20 years has gotten delayed. So the bigges game of Rockstar yet won't follow the pattern, and take more time between announcement and release, won't delay, and will launch in the year they originally put in their trailer despite that not being the case with almost every big Rockstar games in the last 20 years ? I very much doubt it. GTA VI is launching 2026 at the earliest. Mark my words. 2027 is not out of the question too. 80% 2026, 20% 2027. Pin my comment about that. I want to bid with  someone.

I agree with you about the roof. PS360 sold 173M, PS4XB1 sold 175. What are the odds that from all possible numbers from the bottom to the top possibilities of sales for 2 competitive consoles, you will drop right at the almost same point ? This is are all the same people that bought the PS2 and OGXB, then they bought 360 and PS3, then PS4&XB1. Maybe there is new one here and there, but for more than 20 years the total number of both to be between 170 and 180M it means no growth or no decline (till 2020 at least, we are still yet to see the current gen total numbers). But that's not the point. It's like decline, cuz the point of everything in the world is to grow and to be better than before. Being on the same place for more than 20 years is not a growth, it's a pure decline. You even gave me idea. You said the gen will sell maybe more than PS1 gen numbers of around 140M ? I think it may do a little bit better, but it can go either way. However I got the idea to compare them and to add my newest comparison - PS5 & XBSX vs DS numbers which are ~20M down from PS4&XB1. 154M is ideal comparison for the current gen combined numbers.

It's not just Nintendo fans anymore, these modern day kids would rather play Roblox and Fortnite and Minecraft than some $200 million dollar graphics showcase on the traditional consoles. Smartphones are a big factor in what's happening I think whether or not people want to admit it. 

Nintendo as you've admitted isn't really even in the market for "cheap" gamers, most of their sales are coming at high price points still ($350 Switch OLED being by far the most popular model).