PS4 and Xbox One expected to shift 100 million units by 2020

I think it’s safe to say that gaming is a big business by now. There’s a lot of money to be made in the industry, if you play your cards right. And it looks like 2014 and beyond is going to be a gangbuster year for those companies that make it.

Research firm DFC Intelligence is expecting “major” growth in 2014, and they’ve forecasted that by the end of this year, game revenue will clock in at $77 billion in comparison to the $68 billion of 2013. Leading that ludicrous sum total will be sales of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, which according to GI International, will see 100 million combined units sold by 2020.

Adding even more greenbacks to those totals which now have me questioning if I’m in the right job right now, is the forecast that 2018 will see a profit of $96 billion thanks to the “core gamer spending more than ever.”

The firm believes that the PlayStation 4 will be the leading platform throughout this generation however, with “price and strength in Europe” giving the Sony console a slight edge.

Moreover, PS4 could easily become lead platform for Western and Japanese developer / publishers.

Don’t expect those new-gen console to get a price cut anytime soon though, as the firm’s David Cole explained that it would be a while before some discounts appeared:

We modelled price cuts into that but we think they are going to happen fairly slowly and there are likely to be more bundles versus just a straight price cut. We think they will do their best to maintain a solid price point.

2020 is exactly too far off for a conservative estimate. The previous generation lasted a good couple of years, and the current crop of consoles have enough hardware in them to easily last another six years or so before a new generation kicks off.

Either way, someone in the industry is bathing in money right now. Lucky bastards.

Last Updated: February 12, 2014