• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Pachter - Next gen is last gen; projected console sales figures; Xbox to win next gen

DaBoss

Member
The LTDs are that high because their lives are indefinite, i.e. they'll hit 85-95 million because they'll be the only consoles for 15 years +.

Its not that they'll sell so well and thus won't be the last generation, but rather since they're the last generation the will sell very well.

I guess if you put it that way, it makes sense, but there is only a finite amount that console manufacturers will manufacture. There is also a finite amount of time that retailers will keep them, and it seems unlikely that they will keep them so long for it to reach these numbers.
 

Gotchaye

Member
Hardly seems crazy, numbers-wise. And "innovation" is vague. Note he's also not saying that Durango won't have just as much; he's not referencing the speed here. All that RAM definitely allows for developers to do a lot more stuff, and Durango will almost certainly also have a lot. Plus presumably a lot of that RAM enables the kinds of social features Sony was talking about.

I have a hard time seeing why no one would come out with something even more powerful sometime in the next ten years, though. Is he predicting that game sales will dry up over the next decade and no one will bother?
 

Stuart444

Member
Other people have said this gen will be the last as well... I don't agree with those saying that.

I predict in about 7 years, everyone (consumers (GAF), retailers, developers, etc) will be complaining about how this generation has dragged on for too long and there will be rumours about the PS5/NextNext Box and the cycle will repeat itself.
 

JABEE

Member
Why does Pachter keep predicting doom for Nintendo, taking it back, then doing it again?
I really doubt Wii U will sell worse than Ps4/Durango and I doubt it will be Nintendo's last console. Sony/Ms's last consoles? I think that could be quite possible, but I am sure Nintendo who have a dedicated hardware development team certainly aren't done yet

How are they going to change the WiiU at this point? He is talking about the WiiU.
 

CrimsonJ

Neo Member
Is Pachter ever right? Remember all the years he spent saying Wii HD was coming out?

Then he says Wii HD isn't coming and the WiiU comes out. And everything he does predict is super obvious to anyone who follows games.
 

mAcOdIn

Member
Yeah I realize that but I'm not really counting Wii in this case.

I suppose I should have specified the hardcore gaming market. Clearly much of the wii casual market has moved on. I just don't see the PS4/Durango doing that much better than their predecessors.
I don't see why growth is unreasonable, I think this time you're going to see more effort in emerging markets. Plus what someone else said about them being on the market longer and thus selling for longer also would apply to the prediction.

That said, I don't know if I think this is really the last generation coming up.
 

Pasco_

Banned
Again with the fucking RAM. "Huge RAM makes innovation likely" my ass.

RAM is not magical pixie dust, 8GB of RAM is nothing special, GDDR5 RAM is nothing new.

It's great that PS4 (and probably the next Xbox) have a good amount of RAM, a lack of RAM seriously held the last generation back in the latter years, but it's not a fucking magic bullet guaranteeing monster sales.
 

Globox_82

Banned
So according to pac rule, PS4nextbox will not be the last generation, they will sell like crap and games will cost less then current gen. Interesting...
 

Alex

Member
I think it's too high, I understand the assumption that the lapsed Wii purchases would go back into other consoles like before, but I still think we're going to trend downwards a fair chunk further than that. There's more devices, services, types of entertainment, etc to complete with than ever before.

As for the split, right now I think Nintendo will wind up regressing to ~N64 numbers, Sony is a complete mystery (although their software choices don't seem inspiring) and Microsoft is the best off for consumer confidence right now. So i'm going to guess something like... Nintendo - 30 million, Sony - 40 million, Microsoft - 60 million just to come back and laugh at how wrong I probably was later on.
 

kadotsu

Banned
Did he say anything about software? I have my doubts about next-gen breathing life into the >$20 games market. Hope that I'm wrong, though.
 

Massa

Member
Is Pachter ever right? Remember all the years he spent saying Wii HD was coming out?

Then he says Wii HD isn't coming and the WiiU comes out. And everything he does predict is super obvious to anyone who follows games.

Wii HD not coming out was a mistake (or rather, waiting until 2012 to make it and asking $350 for it was a mistake). Wii completely lost momentum, Nintendo was too slow.
 
85-90 million? In the current environment? Sure, we'll see. Especially if he thinks people are interested in 70 dollar games.

Wii HD not coming out was a mistake (or rather, waiting until 2012 to make it and asking $350 for it was a mistake).

No one was going to buy a Wii that played games in HD. It would have been an even more pointless console than Wii U.
 

kenjisalk

Member
The question I keep asking myself in regards to the longevity of proprietary game consoles is not a matter of content or pricing as much as will multimedia settop boxes from companies like Apple/Google etc take off in the coming years?

If these companies can manage to break through with affordable boxes that offer all the non-game related functionality of an xbox/ps3 and also provide a similar casual gaming experience, that's only going to further reduce the mass appeal of game consoles.

Let's face it, video games, with some exceptions, are a niche thing. Lots of people play social/mobile games, but very few of those customers are willing to buy a device strictly for games. We're going to see these two segments of the consumer base fragment going forward, and I think that if Sony/Microsoft still want core gamer money, they're going to have to seriously scale back their sales expectations.
 

Coolwhip

Banned
Is Pachter ever right? Remember all the years he spent saying Wii HD was coming out?

Then he says Wii HD isn't coming and the WiiU comes out. And everything he does predict is super obvious to anyone who follows games.

Its hard to read/hear his predictions as gaming enthusiasts yes. Who is Pachters audience though?
 
So, we can now confirm that the WiiU will be by far the best selling games console in the new gen, that the PS4 will be priced greater than 600 dollars and that there will be no Kinect nor Skype integration in the next Xbox.
 

AZ Greg

Member
Because if you take away the Wii anomality there was a big decline this gen compared to last. Now in a world with a lot more entertainment options, any sensible person would expect a decline in the coming gen. But not Pachter.

How do you figure this as well?

The PS2/Xbox/GC sold for ~195 million worldwide.

The PS3/360/Wii are at ~247 million worldwide.

Now when you take out the casuals that got on the Wii train it probably does drop below last generation, but to call it a big decline is a bit of a stretch.
 
How are they going to change the WiiU at this point? He is talking about the WiiU.

I think he's saying that this generation won't be Nintendo's last (as claimed on one of the slides), because they have a team dedicated to the research of new hardware.
 

RoboPlato

I'd be in the dick
I still don't understand any of the logic behind the "no more consoles" argument, especially when streaming is listed as an alternative.
 

artist

Banned
tumblr_mewil7moak1rkflsjjz.gif

So Wii U is next gen!
 
How do you figure this as well?

The PS2/Xbox/GC sold for ~195 million worldwide.

The PS3/360/Wii are at ~247 million worldwide.

Now when you take out the casuals that got on the Wii train it probably does drop below last generation, but to call it a big decline is a bit of a stretch.

Take out a lot of the casuals who owned a PS3/360 as well unless you seriously think there was anywhere near 150 million core gamers who bought the PS3/360. Sure the core gamer base for consoles will be around but as more and more alternatives pop up to consoles we will see their relevance dwindle as we've seen handhelds dwindle.
 

deviljho

Member
The LTDs are that high because their lives are indefinite, i.e. they'll hit 85-95 million because they'll be the only consoles for 15 years +.

Its not that they'll sell so well and thus won't be the last generation, but rather since they're the last generation the will sell very well.

Ribbed for your pleasure
 

Coolwhip

Banned
How do you figure this as well?

The PS2/Xbox/GC sold for ~195 million worldwide.

The PS3/360/Wii are at ~247 million worldwide.

Now when you take out the casuals that got on the Wii train it probably does drop below last generation, but to call it a big decline is a bit of a stretch.

That on depends how many of the 100 million Wii owners are casuals.
 
Xbox and PS4 will both have 8GB.

Wouldn't slower RAM for the Xbox 3 have basically the same effect of not being able to take advantage completely of PS4's RAM to utilize whatever innovation could possible come out of it? I'm not a tech person, but then again, neither is Pachter.

Besides, it's listed specifically in the PS4 section.

And ignoring potential platform differences, I'm not sure what major innovations are supposed to come from the RAM but I haven't looked into it much so there may be a lot I guess.
 
Wouldn't slower RAM for the Xbox 3 have basically the same effect of not being able to take advantage completely of PS4's RAM to utilize whatever innovation could possible come out of it? I'm not a tech person, but then again, neither is Pachter.

Besides, it's listed specifically in the PS4 section.

And ignoring potential platform differences, I'm not sure what major innovations are supposed to come from the RAM but I haven't looked into it much so there may be a lot I guess.

Considering 3rd party developers will be making sure that games can run on the LCD (durango) the big innovation will becoming from exclusive games.
Think about how much has changed in terms of the buying habits/trends of consumer electronics in the past 6-7 years. A lot can happen over the course of a lifecycle.

If the consoles actually sell that much it means they will all have pretty decent lifecycles assuming this gen will be 5-6 years. There will definitely be another console gen if they sell that much.
 

kingkaiser

Member
So, both PS4 and Durango/nextBox will surpass their predecessors in lifetime sales but...next gen still gonna be last Gen (probably)...yeah seems just like good old Pachter logic...
 

guek

Banned
I don't see why growth is unreasonable, I think this time you're going to see more effort in emerging markets. Plus what someone else said about them being on the market longer and thus selling for longer also would apply to the prediction.

That said, I don't know if I think this is really the last generation coming up.

I'm not saying I know for sure what'll happen, it's just my own amateur prediction. It seems to me there are far too many competitive consumer electronic products that are taking away attention from console gaming. Adults these days are far more attracted to different types of gadgets it seems. And while many people disagree, I have always felt that console gaming is still heavily affected by the whims of kids. Gaming has always and will always be associated with the toy market, and though kids that have grown to adults now make up a significant portion of that market, the waning attractiveness of console gaming to kids is, in my eyes anwyay, going to have a noticeable impact on dedicated consoles.

Which of course is why there is so much emphasis on services these days. All in all, I do think that dedicated console gaming will remain sustainable into the foreseeable future off of the back of hardcore gamers but I don't see that market growing either.
 

Meelow

Banned
How do you figure this as well?

The DC/PS2/Xbox/GC sold for ~205 million worldwide.

The PS3/360/Wii are at ~247 million worldwide.

Now when you take out the casuals that got on the Wii train it probably does drop below last generation, but to call it a big decline is a bit of a stretch.

Added Dreamcast to your post, but last gen still beat it by 40 million.
 
I think the WiiU numbers make sense. Generally, his PS4 and Xbox numbers seem like a safe bet, but I just don't see how the PS4 and Xbox 3 could have nearly the same sale numbers, when they will be so different compared to current gen, and start at the same time. I expect those Xbox 3 numbers to be a lot lower, maybe around 50 millions, and PS4 at 100 millions. I can't see many people buying the Xbox 3 if the specs are true. Word of mouth will be important, people will know that the PS4 is stronger. I think Sony has a good chance to get back to PS2 form.
 

AZ Greg

Member
Take out a lot of the casuals who owned a PS3/360 as well unless you seriously think there was anywhere near 150 million core gamers who bought the PS3/360. Sure the core gamer base for consoles will be around but as more and more alternatives pop up to consoles we will see their relevance dwindle as we've seen handhelds dwindle.

If you're going to go down the path then we can also ponder how many casuals bought a PS2 just for its DVD functionality.

That on depends how many of the 100 million Wii owners are casuals.

Exactly. And we can probably assume, based on N64/GC numbers, that ~25-35 million Wii sales were the Nintendo faithful that would have bought into the platform regardless of the craze. So if you take out the remaining casuals, and assume they wouldn't have bought any other consoles, it does lead to a smaller number vs. last generation, but my point was that it is hard to classify it as a "big decline".
 

Coolwhip

Banned
Gemüsepizza;49584858 said:
I think the WiiU numbers make sense, but I expect those Xbox 3 numbers to be a lot lower, maybe around 50 millions, and PS4 at 100 millions. I can't see many people buying the Xbox 3 if the specs are true. Word of mouth will be important, people will know that the PS4 is stronger. I think Sony has a good chance to get back to PS2 form. Generally, his PS4 and Xbox numbers seem like a safe bet, but I just don't see how the PS4 and Xbox 3 could have nearly the same sale numbers, when they will be so different compared to current gen, and start at the same time.

Do you really think specs will determine sales? Havent we learned anything from the past!
 
Top Bottom