Sony Projected To Sell 51 Million PS4 Consoles By 2016

Sony certainly has the early market share lead when it comes to 8th generation units sold. After selling more than 7 million PS4 units to consumers (compared to 6.17 million Wii U units shipped and more than 5 million Xbox One’s shipped to retailers), it appears to be tracking rather well. So well, that the International Data Corporation (IDC) projects that Sony will sell 51 million PS4 consoles worldwide by the end of 2016. However, the company also expects that the Xbox One will be uncoupled with the Kinect, which will lead to a higher market share within the United States by the end of 2016.

Take the projections with a grain of salt; IDC has been known to drastically under and overestimate based on trends in the past. However, crazier things have happened. During the first 38 months of the PS3, Wii and Xbox 360’s each respective life cycles from each console’s launches, the Wii sold 67.45 million, PS3 sold 33.5 million and the Xbox 360 sold 28.6 million.

Is it possible for the PS4 to do 75% as well as the Wii did with console sales during their first 38 months? Perhaps. The diminishing console market in Japan isn’t going to do anybody any favors. A lack of solid blockbuster-capable exclusive games the rest of this year will make it more difficult to make that case. With E3 2014 coming up in roughly a month, Sony would have to pull out the big guns if they wanted to hit that 51 million unit target over its first 3 years. If games like Project Beast and The Last Guardian are officially announced this year, and as PS4 exclusives, than 51 million could be conceivably obtained by 2016.

h/t NeoGAF

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