Peter Moore, chief operating officer at Electronic Arts, let his expectations for the sales of next-gen consoles to be known on EA's financial call held today. Moore revealed that he expects 10 million next-gen consoles sold by March 31.
He thinks that Microsoft and Sony have handled the console transition well, emphasizing Sony's transition from PS3 to PS4. Right now, game attach rates (number of titles sold divided by number of consoles moved at retail) are up for Sony and slightly down for Microsoft in America.
Regarding current-gen sales, Moore said, "There has been a decline in what we, and I think the industry, anticipated." For more information on EA's performance for third quarter, check out our story here.
Our Take
Moore's goal is ambitious, but absolutely attainable given approximately seven million units already sold. More games coming out in March should urge people transition to next-gen. It's after the holidays, so it's not so surprising sales have fallen a bit, but I suspect spring will get next-gen consoles moving.