The PlayStation 4 is all set to continue with its extremely successful run on the market, and sell 100 million units worldwide, predicts research firm DFC Intelligence. According to DFC’s report, Sony will “command a dominant position over the next five years.”
The report covers an exhaustive range of subjects- it discusses the changing landscape of the gaming industry, as it moves from physical game sales to digital ones (half of the software sales for PS4 and Xbox One are projected to come from digital sales by 2019, according to DFC). It also discusses Nintendo’s NX- the report acknowledges that the NX is a total unknown, and so it is impossible to make any meaningful prediction about it. That said, they said that Nintendo will continue to have significant influence in the gaming industry, meaning they do expect at least a measure of success from Nintendo’s next console.
DFC also believes that VR will not have any impact, at least not in the console market.
“Overall VR is not expected to have a big impact on the console market,” the firm said. “Sony has the biggest VR play with the PlayStation VR but that is only one of several reasons why the PlayStation 4 is expected to be the leading game system over the next few years. VR could actually help the PS4 expand its audience over the next few years but it is currently not crucial to the overall forecasts as DFC is taking a conservative attitude towards the market.”
That will probably come as bad news to a lot of VR evangelists, but the medium is expected to be a long term slow burn, even by those putting out flagship products for it, so it does make sense.
