Microsoft Expects Next-Generation of Consoles to Launch in 2028 - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 22 June 2023 / 6,521 Views
Microsoft in court documents that are part of the FTC in the US vs. Microsoft hearing reveals the company expects the next-generation of consoles will launch in 2028.
The "expected starting period" for the next-generation of console is 2028, according to Microsoft in the court documents spotted by IGN.
This would means the next-generation Xbox and PlayStation 6 would launch eight years after the launch of the Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5. This compares to the current-generation launching seven years after the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
Sony Interactive Entertainment President and CEO Jim Ryan during the same hearing said it wouldn't want to share its plans for the PlayStation 6 and other future consoles with Activision Blizzard if Microsoft's acquisition of the company would be approved.
Ryan said information on the next PlayStation console is "immensely sensitive."
Sony "simply could not run the risk of a company that was owned by a direct competitor having access to that information," said Ryan. Sony is worried that its game development process would be interrupted as it "could no longer share confidential details about its next console in development."
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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We can also common sense our way to 2028 being the likely launch year. The first two years of this generation were majorly disrupted by covid. Also, the technology in both the PlayStation and Xbox Series X was a year or two closer to the leading edge of tech relative to the previous couple of generations. So I think I would have bet on 2028 had you asked me to do so even before MS said anything.
With all of that said, this info from Microsoft is basically worthless, considering that we are more than 5 years out from a holiday 2028 launch window. They have no better idea of the launch date than I do at this point. They're just applying the same common sense any of us can.
2028 is what most of us expected, 1 year longer generation than last gen, due to the slower start to this gen brought about by Covid caused hardware shortages.
And even then I still wouldn’t fully hold them to this, it’s an expectation not an ironclad guarantee
I wold also expect the cross-generation period to lengthen as well.
It's taken 3 years for the cross-gen exclusive releases to stop.
8 years in my opinion is a very healthy length of time to support these devices.
Microsoft hopes Sony 2028 and sneak Xbox in 2027
They should have a longer life cycle. Since games are taking 4 to 5 years . By the time they start doing something special with the system, we won't even get a second game from that developer on the system before a next gen system releases.
As someone who grew up with four and five-year cycles being the norm, this eight-year-plus thing is really a drag. And I mean that literally. After five years, I'm kind of bored. When it gets to eight, I'm done. I might buy the big game here or there that's begging to be played, but overall, my investment in a console that old is next to nothing. So the fact that it's moved into that territory is depressing for me.
Considering the time some devs are taking to make the games, a 4 year cycle (that when you are a kid takes forever) could see some of them skipping a full gen.
This, plus the hardware itself is much more complex and expensive to develop. They have to be able to get a return on all that R&D, and five years is likely not enough. Personally, I'm enjoying the longer hardware cycles. I've gotten more mileage out of the Switch than I ever thought possible.
Considering the smaller increments on image quality per gen I would say I have no rush.
I was in no rush to move on from the SNES in the mid-90s. The PS1 had nothing to interest me until 1997.
Oh, I get it. I understand why games take a lifetime to come out and why the cycle is so freakin' long. I'm just saying that when you come from a time when new consoles dropped every four to five years, AND were massive technological leaps, AND games like three mainline GTA's launched in as little as three years... it's rough. I wish it were still like that.
Covid ruined the console run so extending it for a year is a an understatement
The one good thing about this mess, is getting information like this.
Nintendo won't wait that long...
It's debatable which generation the Switch is even a part of, so an argument can be made that a Switch successor would actually be a part of the current generation.
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