PS4 to sell 37 million units by 2017

Worldwide sales for the PlayStation 4 will hit 37 million by the end of 2016, according to Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter.

Sales of the Xbox One are expected to be lower but still successful, totaling 29 million units.

The numbers were revealed in a research note sent out to investors on Thursday.

"We expect Sony's and Microsoft's new consoles to thrive over the next three years, with cumulative worldwide sales of 37.7 million PS4 and 29 million Xbox One consoles by year-end 2016," said Pachter.

A forecast was also given for sales of the Wii U, although that number doesn't seem as healthy.

"We do not expect Nintendo's Wii U to fare as well, with cumulative sales of under 20 million by 2016," he added.

Pachter isn't the first analyst to predict the PS4 outselling the Xbox One throughout its lifetime, with many people believing PlayStation to be the more popular brand.

So far we know that 2.1 million PS4's have been sold as of 3 December and 2 million Xbox One's have been sold as of 11 December.

The Wii U is lagging behind the big two, with just 3.91 million units sold after being on the market for nearly a year.