It’s going to be another big year for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One according to EA, with CFO Blake Jorgensen announcing on their recent earnings call that they expect a combined total of 22 million units to be sold in 2015:
With regards to the market, we expect the console transition to continue at a rapid pace, and another 22 million units to be sold this calendar year, adding to the 27 million units in place at the end of calendar 2014. This is much faster growth than in previous generations.
Provided EA’s 27 million lifetime-to-date number for combined PS4 and Xbox One sales is accurate, that would place Microsoft’s console around 8.5 million at the end of 2014, as the PS4 was at 18.5 million.
After saying that EA is “very happy with the speed at which this console generation has been taken up by players,” CEO Andrew Wilson revealed just how much better this console generation is doing compared to the previous one:
We’re up 51% over the same period in Gen-4 versus Gen-3. So 17 months since launch the install base of Gen-4 consoles is now up 51% versus the same period for Gen-3.
As for EA’s support going forward on PlayStation 3/Xbox 360, it will be “a slow movement away from Gen-3,” with sports franchises continuing on Gen-3 for the time being.
Jorgensen added:
But we’re making some decisions on new franchises and titles to focus on Gen-4, partially because the power of the platform allows for exceptional gameplay and incredible graphics. And for something like Star Wars, we wanted to make sure that we provided the highest level of quality for the game experience, and you can do that only on Gen-4 and PC.
Do you think we’ll see the PS4 and Xbox One reach 50 million combined by the end of 2015?
[Source: Seeking Alpha]
