"Pent up demand" will drive rapid install base growth in "first couple of years"

Xbox One and PS4 sales will double that of their predecessors in their first couple of years on sale, expects a Ubisoft exec.

Tony Key, senior vice president of sales and marketing at the publisher, argues that the unusually long lifecycle of the previous generation has driven consumer anticipation.

"Our feeling is the installed base of these machines will be much faster to take hold than previous generations," Key said to Games Industry.

"In the first couple of years, we expect double the installed bases of previous generations. ... The reason why is: the last cycle was longer, so there's a lot of pent up demand," he added.

Key believes the the arrival of the new consoles and the boost in performance they bring will drive much-needed developer innovation.

"There's so much more under the hood," he commented. "Give them just a little more time and you're going to see the difference start to build. The amount of innovation that's going to occur around these machines is really going to inspire the category. That's what we need: We need to bring excitement back to this industry."

John Riccitiello, the former CEO of Electronic Arts, has also expressed confidence in the Xbox One and PS4 consoles surpassing the reach of their predecessors. Riccitiello suggests that the rise of fast broadband internet and its deep integration in the new consoles, combined with seamless user interfaces is what will help propel Sony and Microsoft's new machines above their older counterparts.

Meanwhile Microsoft has somewhat ambitiously suggested that the new consoles could attain a combined lifetime installed user base of over 1 billion units - more than three times as large as the last generation.

Sony has reported sales of 1 million PS4s in its first 24 hours on sale in North America and Canada, where it launched on November 15. The console launches in EU on November 29.

Microsoft's Xbox One launch is set for this Friday, November 22, 2013 in 13 markets.

Posted: Nov 18, 2013 5:27 pm
Related Forum: PlayStation Forum

Source: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/438845/ps4-xbox-one-to-double-sales-of-predecessors-in-early-years-expects-ubi-exec/