PS4 will outsell Xbox One through 2018, says analyst

The PS4 will continue to dominate the Xbox One, according to one analyst firm.

So far, the PS4 has been trampling all over the Xbox One.

From launch in November 2013 through October 2014, it outsold the Xbox One month-to-month. It gave up its lead during November and December, but took back the crown as soon as the holidays ended - despite Microsoft's decision to keep its console's price low.

PS4 units in the wild outnumber the Xbox One by at least a couple of million. Sony has sold 18.5 million PS4 units as of last week; the last update from Microsoft was 10 million units shipped in November.

Naturally we don't expect Microsoft to take this lying down, and it's such early days that the outcome of the console war is still anybody's guess - or is it? According to research firm Strategy Analytics, the deal is done and dusted - the PS4 will outsell the Xbox One by 40% through 2018.

In a report summarised by GamesIndustry, the analyst company said there will be 80 million PS4 units in the wild by 2019, with sales tracking closely to the phenomenal PS2. Meanwhile, the Xbox One will have sold a comparatively modest 57 million.

Strategy Analytics said the console market is alive and well, and that core gamers are adopting new hardware faster than before. Any perceived slackening in sales, it said, is due to the huge glut of casual Wii owners last generation, who have moved on to smartphone and tablet games instead.