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The PlayStation 4, Xbox 720 and Wii U will fail to match the sales of their immediate predecessors, analyst Piper Jaffray believes.
In fact, analysts Michael J. Olson and Andrew D. Connor believe that between them the three machines will see an average software sales decline of 53 per cent compared to PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii throughout their first 14 months.
Gamasutra reports that the analysts add that they expect Wii U to be priced at $299 or more and sell only 35 per cent of the total units shifted by Wii in a comparable 14 month timeframe.
They go on to predict a summer 2013 launch for PS4 and for sales of that machine will be 50 per cent of its predecessor.
So what about the Next Xbox? 2014, the firm reckons, with sales of around 55 per cent that of the Xbox 360’s first 14 months.
"We believe console gaming will continue to be a time-share donor to social networks, mobile games and tablets,” it said. We therefore favour companies with increasing exposure to social/mobile gaming, including Zynga and EA."
