Piers Harding-Rolls, research director for games at Ampere Analysis, has revealed some interesting insight into how next-gen will shake out for both PS5 and Xbox Series X. According to Harding-Rolls (via Games Industry), the console market will remain large, at least for another generation. Part of that has to do with the leap in hardware specs and other upgrades both PS5 and Xbox Series X will bring, which should keep things interesting for another few years. Harding-Rolls reckons that both consoles will have an almost even start at launch, before the gap widens. PS5, he predicts, will end up being the the top seller. He expects Sony’s console to sell 66 million units by the end of 2024, compared to 37 million for Xbox Series X.
With that in mind, the analyst doesn’t believe the console market has any more room left for growth. He pointed out that console sales have been declining since the PS2/Original Xbox era where both combined achieved 179 million units. This is more than the PS3/Xbox 360 generation, at 171 million. The current generation is lower still, at 157 million. “While the market is still substantial and likely to be consistently large at least during the next console life cycle, what has been proven over the last decade is that even with significant resources ploughed into growing adoption on a global basis, including more serious entry into a series of additional territories, substantial hardware unit sales growth for Sony and Microsoft combined has not materialised,” he explained. As for price, Harding-Rolls expects both PS5 and Xbox Series X to have the same $450-500 price tag. For more on the next-gen offerings from Microsoft and Sony, check out how PS5 specs compared to Xbox Series X.
