A statistical report presented at the 2016 Game Developers Conference predicts that by 2019 the Sony should be able to sell 69 million units of the PlayStation 4 console. The same report suggests that the PlayStation 4's closest rival, Microsoft's Xbox One, should be able to sell 39 million units by that year.
The report was presented by Wargaming creative director TJ Wagner. Wargaming is a video game development studio that is famous of the "World of Tanks" online game.
Wargaming's presentation also claims that currently there are 36 million active PlayStation 4 consoles in the market. In comparison, Microsoft's flagship console Xbox One counts at an estimated 19 million active units, according to Ubergizmo.
According to Gamespot, Wargaming was able to come up with its statistics by putting together data from several sources including IDG Consulting, Superdata and IHS.
Some tech analysts account the success of Sony PlayStation 4 to its cutting edge hardware specs. Some claim it is because of Sony's marketing while some pointed to exclusive games that are only available on the PlayStation platform. Whatever the reason is, most people agree that the PlayStation 4 is at the edge with the Xbox One fast chasing.
Both Sony and Microsoft have yet to confirm the numbers presented by Wargaming. On the other hand, Sonny officially announced in January that company had managed to sell close to 36 million units worldwide. Microsoft did not share the sales figures of the Xbox One console, but conservative estimate suggests that there are about 18 million active Xbox One consoles in the market.
Microsoft Xbox division head Phil Spencer admitted in 2015 that Sony's lead in terms of sales of current generation consoles was so big that Microsoft is skeptical whether the company can keep up with the competition. At around that time, Spencer was quoted saying, "We're not motivated by beating Sony, we're motivated by gaining as many customers as we can."
Recently, Microsoft have been busy exploring possibilities to broaden the exposure of the Xbox One console as well as find alternative ways to attract users. As part of this effort, Microsoft issued an open invitation to game developers as well as hardware manufacturers to support cross-play between different platforms.