We have had quite a frequent stream of next-gen Xbox rumors lately, but now we have some new information on the so-called ‘Xbox 720‘ to share with you now. This is particularly interesting, since we have the comments of everyone’s favorite industry analyst to tell you about.
We’re talking about Michael Pachter of course, the man who likes to dish out hardware and software predictions in the industry. Some turn out to be correct, whereas others suggest that he picked up his crystal ball at Walmart for $10.
Anyway, Pachter has just dropped his release predictions on Microsoft’s next console, labelling rumors that we may be seeing Microsoft’s next gaming console at CES 2012 as ‘silly’. According to him, Microsoft may release an updated Xbox 360 model with minor hardware tweaks, but we won’t be seeing a true next-generation successor until 2014. Here is what he had to say in a recent interview with Industry Gamers:
“Those rumors are silly. Microsoft is still selling a ton of Xbox 360s, and they won’t replace the existing one until sales begin to slow. I think the rumors are based upon leaks about modifying the current Xbox 360 to allow it to operate Windows 8. I fully expect a new model of Xbox 360 by holiday 2012, but don’t think we see a new console altogether from Microsoft until 2014.”
On this occassion, we’re inclined to agree with Pachter. Why would Microsoft introduce a new console when current Xbox 360 consoles are still continuing to sell so well? We’d also agree that it is far more likely for Microsoft to introduce a refresh to the current Xbox 360 next year, rather than a brand new console built from the ground up.
The same thing could also be said for the PlayStation 4 when you think about it. We doubt that we’ll see a similar announcement next year to possibly counter Microsoft, but again another PS3 SKU refresh with a more compact and lighter design, with different storage capacities is definitely a possible option for Sony.
This is from a business point of view of course, but from a gamer’s perspective, you guys will probably not agree. We would all love to see brand new hardware specs and UI features for the Xbox 720 and PlayStation 4, but we doubt it will happen just yet. On the bright side, we do have a new Xbox 360 dashboard UI to look forward to, while we’re sure that Sony’s highly anticipated 4.0 firmware update is not too far off release either.
What are your thoughts on Patcher’s fresh comments? Do you agree that it is still far too early to be talking about the Xbox 720?
*Identifying Monetised Links - outgoing links that we monetise are marked with an '*' symbol.
