Should Nextbox go for the headstart, or wait for PS5 to make the first move?

[VAMatt]

Assuming that they launch with a single new device, I expect that the next Xbox will either:

1) Launch a year ahead of PS5, with about the expected stats of that PS.

or

2) Launch at roughly the same time as PS5, at the same price, with noticeably better stats.

In each case, of course, MS cannot control how Sony will respond. If they launch a year before PS, it is very likely that Sony will bump the stats of PS5 up a bit, so as to have the more powerful machine again. If they launch at the same time, Sony could of course race them to the top in terms of stats. But, to the extent that MS can control the situation, I think it will go one of those two ways.

The reality is that MS must regain market share. If they cannot do so in the next several years, I expect that they will get out of the console business. To do so, they'll need to have something that Sony does not. Of course, they could do it by under-pricing Sony. This is actually one way where MS can pretty easily win. If they really want to, they can certainly afford to take more of a loss on console sales. But, it doesn't look to me like that's the route they want to take, as they're currently pushing max power. So, I figure they will either try to get time or power on their side.

With all of that said, and considering that they have alluded to having multiple devices in the family, they very well could launch at both the high and low end at the same time. That would be interesting, and I have no way to even guess as to how that will work out for them.