DFC Intelligence, a research firm that provides reports on the video games industry, has issued a new report that Microsoft’s upcoming Xbox One X should sell upwards of 20 million units in five years. This is an impressive number considering its $499 price tag, and shows how its power is a huge selling point to enthusiastic gamers.
According to the firm’s forecast, 17 million Xbox One X consoles will be sold by the end of 2021, with the number jumping to 20 million the following year in 2022. DFC says that the 17 million by 2021 will bring the total number of Xbox One devices in the wild up to 63 million. Currently, Xbox’s main competition, Sony’s PlayStation 4, sits comfortably at around 60 million units sold, with the PS4 Pro making up roughly 20% of the sales since its launch.
The firm also found that 130 titles are expected to be released for Xbox One between now and 2018, with 25 of those being console exclusives. It should be noted, however, that most will likely be available for PC and could be timed exclusives coming to Sony’s platform at a later date. DFC analyst David Cole believes these exclusives will not play a major role in console sales as many are indie titles that are probably not be the best to showcase 4K graphics and other visual enhancements that the Xbox One X provides.
Cole also stated that the Xbox One X faces the challenge of launching at a time where it still has a “fairly small addressable market,” even with sales of 4K televisions set to soar. The Xbox One X caters to serious fans who want the best possible features and graphics but don’t necessarily want to shell out for a high-end expensive PC. We’ll see just how serious they are on November 7, but if this report is anything to go by, the Xbox One X has a bright future ahead.
In terms of the entire games industry, DFC states that it will reach record sales of $102 billion this year, in part due to new hardware and growth in the mobile and PC sectors. This is an 8% increase over 2016.
You can view the full report here if you have $4,000 extra to spare.
