Strategy Analytics recently predicted the Sony PlayStation 3 game console will eventually become the No. 1 game platform, outlasting the Nintendo Wii.
The PS3 trailed both the Wii and Microsoft Xbox 360 from the start, but has slowly clawed its way back into the consumer market.
The Wii grabbed early control of the market, but a lackluster game catalog has left owners frustrated. It will still be a few years before the PS3 and Xbox 360 are able to catch up to the Wii, with Nintendo expected to continue to lead for the next three or four years.
"Nintendo has done a great job with the Wii in bringing console games to new audiences," said David Mercer, Strategy Analytics principal analysts, in a statement release. "But its sales are now falling, particularly in mature markets, and its installed base will peak in 2011. Ownership of both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 will hit their highest points between 2012 and 2014."
During its lifetime, Strategy Analytics believes Sony will sell 127 million PS3 units worldwide, though the group didn't offer an Xbox 360 sales prediction.
Throughout 2010, the Wii will lead all console sales with 17.5 million, while the PS3 should rack up 14 million, and the Xbox 360 will trail in third place with 10.5 million.
I would have thought Strategy Analytics was dead wrong about a year ago - but now it'd be harder to argue the firm's prediction.
