| rf40928 said: Basic rule of supply and demand.. The Xbox is in its 6th ( going on 7th ) year.. it has outsold itself each year.. and this year it is on pace to outsell itself again - going on last year sales... While still selling at a premium price.. The 360 is not far ahead of the PS3.. but even with the RROD fiasco MS lost only 1 Billion on repairs.. You're saying 'only' ?? Well... that's 25% of what Sony has lost this generation on the PS3.. So even if PS3 would break even ( or surpass ) TOTAL world wide sales of the Xbox 360.. Sony will not profit from the PS3.. Why am i mentioning and why is this relatvent ? Because the 360 will be profitable this generation overall.. and now its selling better then ever.. Going back to supply and demand.. this means from a financial point of view ( which ANY Company looks at first usually ) they will slow the launch of the NEXT Xbox because they are putting money in the bank.. MS can take their time and focus more on quality this time in the next console .. as Sony did with the PS2- MS will make this generation last a little longer then it might have.. Looking back - The PS2 lasted so long because it sold so well every year and it made a profit.. While the Xbox 360 is not on track to sell anywhere near the PS2 worldwide lifetime - The 360 HAS ALREADY outsold the PS2 "LIFETIME" IN THE USA.... Sony is not in the same boat with the PS3 as the PS2.. Sony will not be profitable this generation. Selling a PS3 after the price drop hurt Sony more then it helped them. They want to launch the PS4 with the Next Xbox. PERIOD. That was their plan with the PS3.. but they didnt care as much then. It is even more vital to Sony next generation - mainly because profit margins are small on the PS3 and any profits made this generation are virtually zeroed out by the massive losses ( on each console ) the first couple years of the PS3's life.... Sony began making a small profit on the PS3 console itself in mid 2010.. so small that with the recent price drop ( that helped them sell more consoles ) they just posted a loss of 350 million US dollars.. thanks to the weakening of the YEN in world markets.. MS will likely announce the Next Xbox in 2012 .. but either way you're looking at a launch of no sooner then 2013.. Sorry folks but they arent going to "rush" out a console when the current one is still selling BETTER every year, MAKING a PROFIT, while selling at a premium price.... if anything they are going to milk it out as long as possible - just as Sony could do with the PS2..
http://www.vgchartz.com/article/88359/sony-loses-350m-in-july-sept-2011-ps3-shipments-within-2m-of-x360/ http://www.vgchartz.com/article/88543/xbox-360-tops-60-million-units-worldwide/
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X360 didn't sell better EVERY year... it dipped in 2009 (10.14m) vs 2008 (10.89m). 2010 (13.61m) saw a solid increase due to introduction of Kinect and a casual push combined with a good price cut that year. 2011 is looking to be less than 2010 (currently at just over 8m) and that all points to a high possibility of another early in the year price cut to drive sales.
Additionally, this does nothing to promote any real reason MS has to launch in 2013 vs 2012. It makes more sense to launch when 360 is popular than when its a has been.
A new Kinect, Win8 base, cheap 360, and good software support from enahanced ps360 games combined with a few exclusives means a solid launch effort.
I also think MS will want to be right along side a new Nintendo console far more than a year late with a new Sony console.
