And it has NOTHING to do with technique.
 I've seen far too many beginners start off with a terrible guitar (i.e. one that is difficult to play) and give up after a couple months.
I started off with a borrowed acoustic guitar with terrible hard strings and way too high action but I was SO determined to learn to play guitar that I stuck it out.  I would deliberately run my fingertips up and down the strings to toughen them up (hey, maybe I should do that now, too!)
Most beginners are not as determined as I and they give up.  That is SO sad because I have so many good memories of playing my guitar after I was able to start sounding like the songs I was trying to play.  Now I play for friends and at my family reunions around the campfire.
 What is the Key?
 Get a good guitar.  Spend the money up front for a decent guitar.  My first electric guitar was a Squier Fender Strat.  For a Squier it was decent, but it wasn't great.  The high strings buzzed and the only way to fix it was to raise the action and that made it more difficult to play.
I recently bought a nice Ibanez GRG series and it plays like a dream.  The action is low enough where it takes much less effort to play and I have no string buzzing whatsoever.
Make sure you get a guitar that is easy to play and spend the money to do it.  If you don't know what a good guitar is like, find someone who's been playing for 5, 10, 20 years to help you find one.
 I guarantee that finding a guitar that is easy to play will make learning 3-5 times easier.
Of course, you still need to be motivated to play, but at least with a good guitar, the instrument won't be holding you back.