USA market analyst group Bancorp Piper Jaffray suggests that the console sales in the USA have peaked and the numbers will decline in 2004.

The analysts suggests that the number of consoles sold will rise from last year's 21.1 million to 22.3 million units at the end of this year. They suggest that the units sold will reduce to 20.3 million in 2004.

"We believe spring 2003 marked the midpoint of the current video game cycle, in terms of the product life cycle of current generation video game hardware," said the firm's senior leisure and entertainment analyst, Tony Gikas. "In addition, we expect 2003 will be the peak year for unit sales of current generation hardware sales."

US Bancorp Piper Jaffray's analysis applies to North America only, and should not be taken as the same for countries such as Europe.