A respected Japanese analyst has predicted that the PlayStation 5 could sell more than 200 million units over the course of its lifetime, making it the most successful home console of all time. The next-gen console is not even in stores yet but already analysts have begun to speculate over who will be more successful over the coming years, with Sony seen as a frontrunner due to the incredible success of the PlayStation 4.

The report will be good news for Sony following a fiasco over the way pre-orders were handled for the console. Despite prior messages from the company that promised pre-order dates would be revealed well in advance, many retailers went live with console reservations following the PlayStation Showcase event this week. That led to confusion among customers and so much demand that some store's sites crashed. The situation even led to Microsoft teasing Sony in a Tweet that made fun of the mess.

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An analyst has suggested that the PlayStation could become the best-selling home console of all time in a recent report. Nohio Imanakamade the claim in an article put out by the Japanese company Rakuten earlier today. Twitter user Takashi Mochizuki has translated the main takeaways from the report, which argues that the next-gen console could have lifetime sales that exceed 200 million units,. That would mean it would have to sell more than both the PlayStation 2 and the Nintendo DS, which both sit at around the 155 million mark.

Imanakamade argues that the extra power in the console might attract eSports players from PC while the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic might see more people buy a home console. The report also makes note that Sony will be selling the PlayStation 5 at a loss, with the company deciding to match the price of the Xbox Series X rather than make a profit with each unit sold. However, the analyst predicts that this strategy will be worth it due to the number of blockbuster titles that Sony has on the way.

The price and launch details of the PlayStation 5 were only revealed this week. Sony made the announcement during the PlayStation Showcase event, revealing that the console will be available from November 12 in select countries. However, the rest of the world will have to wait until November 19. The standard edition of the PS5 will cost $499, putting it on par with the Xbox Series X, while the digital edition will cost $399. This makes it significantly more expensive than the Xbox Series S but it will have better specs.

It seems very unlikely that the PlayStation 5 would be able to sell anywhere in the region of 200 million units. After all, only two other home consoles have ever come close to such a figure and even they were some 50 million units away from such a target. Even with the incredible success of the PlayStation 4, Sony has only managed to sell just over 100 million units. That would suggest that reaching the 200 million mark is all but impossible, especially with stiff competition from the Nintendo Switch and Xbox Series X.

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Sources: Rakuten, Takashi Mochizuki