Sony"s PlayStation 3 games console will outsell the Nintendo Wii by 2013, at least according to industry analyst David Mercer of StrategyAnalytics who wrote a short preview of the upcoming "Global Video Game Market Forecast" publication on his blog.
In his blog post, the analyst wrote that there will be an estimated 76 million Wiis used worldwide by the end of 2010. However, he went on to say that there are signs "that the Wii has peaked in terms of console sales, and its installed base will begin to decline after 2011."
Meanwhile, Sony’s PS3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360 will continue to grow, so that the PS3 will become the largest platform globally by 2013. In terms of cumulative lifetime sales we expect the PS3 to hit 127 million units, compared to 103 million Wiis."
Mercer goes on to explain their forecast scenario and how there are uncertainties surrounding both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 due to the introduction of motion controllers to both systems, as well as Sony"s plans to add support for 3D to all PlayStation 3s.
He finished the post with some basic statistics about the year for console sales. After a 6% decline in the sales last year, he says that they "are predicting global console sales of 47.5 million, a 9% decline".
"The Wii will account for most of that decline: sales of the PS3 and Xbox 360 are predicted to increase."