We’re less than a month away from the debut of the new gaming consoles from Microsoft and Sony, and at least one analyst sees the first round going to the Xbox One, despite their PR problems. Baird analyst Colin Sebastian is forecasting total worldwide shipments of the two consoles to come in between 5 million and 6 million units this year, with the Xbox to do a bit better. “While many forecasts still give an edge to Sony/PS4 in North America sales, we continue to expect similar or even slightly higher sales of Xbox One by the end of the launch window,” Sebastian said.
Sebastian sees each console shipping 1.5 million to 2 million units in North America, and 2.5 million to 3 million worldwide. He also points to eBay as a gauge for the popularity of both consoles, as “Xbox One systems are averaging a 60 percent premium over the $500 retail price tag, while PS4s are fetching 50 percent mark-ups over that system’s $400 asking price.”
“Retailers in our checks indicate there is consumer demand well in excess of supply, as evidenced by fast sell-outs of incremental unit allotments, such as at GameStop,” Sebastian said. “Looking further ahead, we still believe a more accurate gauge of new cycle demand should be made after the initial sales window, dominated by core gamer fans.”
Sony will be first out of the gate on November 15th, while the Xbox One has its U.S. debut a week later.
Meanwhile early adopters of the PS4 already have some toys to play with. The DualShock 4 controller and PlayStation 4 camera are now on sale, and some anxious lads have already scooped them up. Of course the requisite unboxing videos are also hitting the web, and it looks like, yes, there are indeed some improvements over the PS3’s controller. Enjoy.
Source: Games Industry International
