PS4 to Reach 100 Million Sales - Report

The PlayStation 4 will go on to sell more than 100 million units worldwide before its lifecycle is over, according to a new report from DFC Intelligence. As reported by MCV, the PS4 would become the sixth platform in gaming history to reach that mark.

The others are the original PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Game Boy, Nintendo DS, and Wii. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 did not reach 100 million, instead falling about 10-15 million short.

As of January 2016, the PS4 had sold nearly 36 million systems worldwide following its launch in November 2013. According to a February 2015 report from Strategy Analytics, the console is "on path to reproduce the success of the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Wii."

The PS2 is the best-selling console of all time with around 150 million units sold. The Wii, by comparison, has shifted more than 101 million systems by Nintendo's latest count.

That report also predicted the system would reach 80 million sales by 2019, outpacing Xbox One sales by a healthy 40 percent. In the DFC report, it was mentioned that PS4 sales in 2015 met the group's forecasts, while the Xbox One and Wii U "fell just short."

Microsoft has not announced a sales figure for the Xbox One (and doesn't plan to in the future), but an unverified report pegged the number to be 18 million or more. The Wii U, meanwhile, has sold more than 12 million systems.

One thing that could help PS4 sales improve further in the future is PlayStation VR. The headset, due to launch in the first half of 2016, "could actually help the PS4 expand its audience over the next few years," the report said. At the same time, DFC said it is not expecting VR to have a significant impact on the overall console market anytime soon.

The DFC report further states that digital game sales will surge in the coming years, reaching $20 billion in annual revenue by 2019. At this time, around half of PS4 and Xbox One game sales will be digital, the report claimed. Indeed, digital is already becoming a bigger and bigger piece of the pie. For example, Fallout 4 director Todd Howard recently said the game sold better digitally on day one than at physical retail.

Additionally, the DFC report said Nintendo remains a "major player" to watch in the future. The company plans to start officially discussing its mysterious NX console later this year. The system is rumored to be a console/mobile hybrid that uses "industry-leading technology."

You can get all the details from the DFC report over at MCV.