With just weeks to go until launch of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, analysts are beginning to speculate on just how many consoles will be available this year. Â Colin Sebastian of Baird Capital thinks that the new hardware will ship between 5-6 million units before the end of the year, and that demand is well outpacing supply at this point.
We expect slightly higher Xbox One sales in North America
According to Sebastian, the Xbox One could outsell the PS4 in North America. Â “While many forecasts still give an edge to Sony/PS4 in North America sales, we continue to expect similar or even slightly higher sales of Xbox One by the end of launch window,” the analyst told Games Industry.
Regardless of who sells more consoles this holiday season, Baird says that data tells them that ‘demand is well in excess of supply’. Â Â “Retailers in our checks indicate there is consumer demand well in excess of supply, as evidenced by fast sell-outs of incremental unit allotments, such as at GameStop,” said the Baird Analyst.
And with the consoles being in short supply, we could even see the obligatory price gouging that we’ve previous console releases of this nature. Â Sebastian says that both the Xbox One and PS4 are already seeing markup of between 50 – 60% on the secondary markets like Ebay.
Published: Oct 26, 2013 12:44 pm