PS4 To Top Xbox One In Sales Through 2018, Analysts Predict

It's no secret that thus far the PlayStation 4 is winning the current game console war against the Xbox One. The muddled announcements of the latest Xbox with restrictive features and the previous requirement of the always listening camera meant from launch the system was playing catch-up to Sony's PS4. However, some analysts are predicting Microsoft's system to continue to sell fewer numbers all the way into 2018, and by a margin of over 20 million units.

The report comes from Strategy Analytics and is a study of the current console generation's sales trends thus far. They predict that at the end of 2018, roughly 80 million PS4s will be have been sold, while the Xbox One will have reached 57 million in sales. The Xbox One reached 10 million units shipped back in November, three months after the PS4, which means if the analysts' predictions are right, Sony's lead will only grow.

Many see Sony as having learned from its mistakes that caused the PS3 to be second the Xbox 360 in the previous generation, a so-called return to glory of the PS2 years, when Sony couldn't be beat. But while the Xbox One was hit with problems even before launch, Microsoft has been very busy doing all it can to turn things around. From un-bundling the Kinect camera, disliked by gamers everywhere, to dropping the price for the holidays and keeping it there permanently, there's still a lot of time for the Xbox One to catch between now and 2018.

As for the other "contender" in this console war, Nintendo's Wii U will remain last in most consumers' minds, as Strategy Analytics believe it will stand between 15 and 20 million in sales in 2018. The system continues to deliver great gaming experiences that fans love, and yet maintains Nintendo's poor sales performance over the last few console generations, leaving us wondering how long they can keep things up.

VIA Extreme Tech

SOURCE Strategy Analytics