The future of the current generation of consoles is in a flux, but sales of the PlayStation 3 are seen as rising, while the Xbox 360 is “headed down.”
According to Christopher Null of Yahoo! Tech, the argument that Grand Theft Auto IV will be lucky to sell a little over half of what Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas sold in 2004, cost $100 million to develop, and has failed to boost sales of consoles doesn’t mean next-gen gaming has hit a wall.
“At $60 a pop, GTA IV is poised to rake in a solid $720 million in sales, at least,” Null said. “If GTA IV had been a movie production, it’d be an unmitigated smash hit.”
There are also countless reasons to some of the weakness in the current console market, he said.
“Front and center is a sour economy and an industry that still expects consumers to pay a minimum of $400 for a PlayStation 3. But PS3 sales are rising (and will continue to do so as prices fall). Xbox 360 sales are headed down. And of course, the Wii is a success story that no one can contest.”
“The future of this generation of consoles is in flux, but there still seems to be plenty of activity in an industry that’s now worth some $10 billion,” he said.
