Analysts project PS4 to reduce Xbox lead in North America

By the year 2018, analysts are projecting that the PlayStation 4 will have outsold the Xbox One by 20%. Analyst group Futuresource Consulting believes that Sony will sell 36 million PlayStation 4 units by 2018, while Microsoft will be sitting around 30 million.

The PS4 will reduce Xbox’s lead in key territories of the USA and UK

As most people expect, the analysts believe that the Xbox One will do best on its home turf do to customer loyalty. “We expect the Xbox One to sell well in the USA due to existing customer loyalty,” said the report. While Sony on the other hand will continue to do well in regions like Japan and Europe.” But, the report does say that they expect Sony to bite into some of this loyalty due to positive PR with the gaming community.

“The PS4 is likely to maintain its strong lead in its core territories of Japan and continental Europe. Due to its lower price point and positive PR within the gaming community, the PS4 will also reduce Xbox’s lead in the key Microsoft territories of the USA and UK when compared with previous generations.”

The overall tone of the report is a somber one. The analysts believe that increased competition from non-traditional platforms will ultimately lead to lower sales. These lower sales could signal the end of an era, one that this projection sees as “the last generation of gaming consoles as we know it.”