14 DAY TRIAL // The International Data Corporation research form says that it expects the PlayStation 4 from Sony to dominate the next-gen console market by 2016 and to significantly outsell the rival Xbox One from Microsoft.
The company explains that Sony will dominate worldwide sales because it will have a big lead in both Europe and in Japan, with its device able to reach 51 million units sold by the end of 2016.
At the same time, the Xbox One will see a solid recovery on the United States market, but only if the Kinect motion tracking device is no longer part of the package, which the research firm expects to happen before the end of the year.
The firm states in a report that was seen by GamesIndustry.biz that, “The presumed unbundling of Kinect and Xbox One, which should facilitate rough price parity between it and the PS4, should lead to a spike in Xbox One sales; assuming the console and sensor are unbundled in 2015.”
It adds, “IDC expects Xbox One to recover and emerge with the largest installed base of any console in North America by the end of 2016.”
The company also says that Nintendo is ready to announce a drop of at least 50 dollars or Euro for the Wii U either later in the year or early in 2015, but that the measure will only have a limited impact and will not help the platform reach the sales of the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4.
At the same time, the IDC believes that physical game sales linked to actual stores will continue to decline as more and more users are becoming focused on the digital market and as both Sony and Microsoft upgrade their PlayStation Network and their Xbox Live services.
At the moment, the PlayStation 4 has managed to go past the 7 million units mark worldwide and Sony says that supply of the device might be constrained for the rest of summer.
Also, Microsoft has announced that more than 5 million units of its own platform have been delivered to stores and 26 new countries will get an official launch for it during September, including Japan.
Both companies are expected to have big announcements linked to the E3 2014, including big exclusive titles that will be delivered before the end of the year and might significantly change the sales performance of the next-gen consoles.