PS4 sales to outpace Xbox One by 40 per cent through 2018, analyst predicts

PlayStation 4 will beat out Xbox One over the first five years of the current console era, market research company Strategy Analytics has predicted.

Games Industry reports on the firm’s findings, which claim Sony’s hardware will outsell Microsoft’s by 40 per cent and is on path to reproduce the success of the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Wii.”

The firm forecasts PS4 will move 80m consoles by the end of 2018, while Xbox One will sell 57m.

The report also states that the Wii U is in the midst of a modest comeback thanks to first-party releases.

"Despite reports to the contrary, the game console market is not dead," Strategy Analytics senior analyst Eric Smith said.

"Core gamers have moved faster to this current generation than in any previous generation. The main difference in this generation is that casual gamers who bought a Wii are remaining largely on the side lines as free-to-play casual games and midcore games on tablets and smartphones have captured this segment of consumers."