IDC: Sony’s PlayStation 4 to win this round of console wars

Sony Computer Entertainment’s PlayStation 3 was not a particularly successful product partly because one of its rivals was considerably less expensive and other was available for a longer time and at lower price. But with the PlayStation 4 the company is projected to make a comeback thanks to the fact that it is more powerful than the Xbox One, costs less and can potentially offer better games.

International Data Corp. forecasts that Sony's PlayStation 4 will be the best-selling new-generation video game console on the market in 2016 with 51 million units sold globally, reports GamesIndustry web-site. While Microsoft Corp. will likely be the No. 2, it will not only be successful with its Xbox One, but will also lead sales in North America, the home turf of Microsoft. However, to really become successful in the U.S. and Canada, the software giant will have to give up Kinect 2 motion sensor and introduce a version of the console without it.

“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, 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 firm explained.

The situation with the Nintendo Wii U is projected to be somewhat tougher for its developer. While IDC expects Wii U to receive “the equivalent of a $50 price cut worldwide in late 2014 or early 2015,” this is not projected to significantly boost its sales and close the gap between it and the rivals.

Life-to-date sales of Nintendo Wii U is 5.86 million units after it has been on the market for around one and a half years. Sony managed to sell over seven million PlayStation 4 consoles in less than half a year, whereas Microsoft sold over five million Xbox One units in less than six months.

All-in-all, it looks like Sony will manage to leave both Microsoft and Nintendo behind with its latest game consoles, but while Microsoft can try to make its system more competitive by slashing its price, Nintendo seems to be in trouble.

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KitGuru Says: Most probably Microsoft will indeed lower the price-tag of the Xbox One just to sell more units, it is simply a too logical thing to do. What is completely unclear is what Nintendo will try to do. Theoretically, it could attract the original Wii owners to the Wii U with a low price and new games. However, it does not look like the company believes in such an option itself.

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