The next Xbox and the next PlayStation won't be released until 2014, if Microsoft and Sony have their way, industry sources tell Kotaku.
Both companies are hoping to wait out the current generation, and extending an already elongated console life-cycle despite clear signs that Nintendo will launch its next machine by the end of 2012.
"Both MS and Sony are telegraphing to each other that they're delaying, to milk the current [generation] and fill in previous craters better," one insider who has worked with the first-party companies like Sony and Microsoft told us.
Other sources with access to first-party companies, speaking to Kotaku anonymously because they aren't authorized to be talking about Microsoft and Sony's plans, said that they too are hearing that 2014 is the target date, though some believe 2013 could happen if either company feels pushed.
Our insider believes that any new Xbox in 2013 would only be a Kinect-upgraded 360, not the next-gen console that would come in 2014. That source says that Microsoft doesn't even know what parts will be in the next Xbox. They say the company's board "is wrestling with whether to be profitable on day one," as Nintendo's Wii was presumed to be, or to once again launch a new console at a loss, which is what Sony and Microsoft usually do.
A wait for a new Xbox or PlayStation until 2014 would make the Xbox 360 the lead Microsoft gaming console for nine years and the PlayStation 3 Sony's chief console for eight. That would be an unusually long time for successful game consoles to retain their importance.
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"I think we'll see a game of chicken between Sony and Microsoft," industry analyst Billy Pidgeon of the firm M2 Research told Kotaku. "Sony definitely isn't launching a successor before 2014 and could stand to benefit by having Microsoft launch first as PS3 builds in to North America and builds a strong position in Europe. Microsoft claims there's a lot more room in Xbox 360 for developers to max out, but here PS3 could have a strong advantage."
New nintendo console, Wii 2 w/ HD? gtfo ps3/360, maybe...
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I doubt they will have a solid online system, all they did for 3DS was get rid of friend codes for each game but still there for the console. I should definitely play my dust collector 1 this summer. I don't know why I bought it a second time.
