"The reason Sony beats Microsoft is solely the price", Pachter believes

PS4’s early advantage over Xbox One is purely because it retails for 80 less.

That’s according to Michael Pachter, who has downplayed the importance of PS4’s technical advantage or any of the controversy that has dogged Microsoft since E3.

"The reason Sony beats Microsoft is solely the price," Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter spoke at the Game Monetization USA Summit in San Francisco, GamesIndustry reports.

"Microsoft loses the next generation unless they cut price. If Microsoft drops its price to $399, I expect the sales to be equal to the PS4."

However, Pachter’s long-term forecast for the future of the console sector is far from rosy.

"I don’t know where they get those numbers. I don’t think you’re ever going to see 500 million consoles out there," Pachter said of estimates that PS4 and Xbox One will set new hardware sales records.

The next generation of consoles is probably the last. We expect frequent model updates instead of new consoles. I think the PC is going to make a comeback, the PC will be the hub of all this stuff.”