According to analysts at Piper Jaffray, Sony will release its next-generation home console in holiday 2013, though warns all three platform holders will experience reduced sales in comparison to the current crop of hardware.
Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo should anticipate an average decline of 53 per cent on software sales for their new machines during the first 14 months on sale.
The company’s Michael Olson and Andrew Connor predict that the Wii U – which is believed to retail for $299 – will suffer the heaviest blow, witnessing only 35 per cent of the volume of sales as its predecessor.
Sony’s PlayStation 4, codenamed Orbis, is likely to rake in 50 per cent of sales volume compared to PS3, while Microsoft comes off the best with 55 per cent of sales volume of the Xbox 360 for the first 14 months on the market.
As previously mentioned, Piper Jaffray predicts Sony will be first out the door with their new console, with Microsoft following up with a successor to the Xbox 360 in 2014. However, the company noted it expects next-gen machines to take a backseat to the increasing popularity of social and mobile games.
"Unfortunately, we do not expect a console refresh to fully offset the secular declines in console gaming," the analysts commented. "We believe console gaming will continue to be a time-share donor to social networks, mobile games and tablets. We, therefore, favor companies with increasing exposure to social/mobile gaming, including Zynga and EA."