Is it time to retire November launches for consoles?

[Wman1996]

SvennoJ said:

Gamer demographic is older now, that Christmas gift can wait. Launch new consoles after tax returns ;)

Honestly, that's a good idea. Here are just some nations that have them in the first half of the year for tax deadlines.

• Albania: April 30 
• Argentina: April 15 
• Brazil: April 30 
• Canada: April 30 
• Chile: April 30 
• China: June 30 
• France: May–June (Varies by zone) 
• Japan: March 15 
• Mexico: April 30 
• Netherlands: May 1 
• Norway: April 30 
• Portugal: March 31 
• Singapore: April 15 
• South Korea: May 31 
• Spain: June 30 
• Sweden: May 2 
• Switzerland: Between March 31 and April 30 (Varies by municipality) 
• Taiwan: May 31 

However, it's not too likely we'll see the end of November launches, at least not for Sony. A PlayStation executive said PS6 is currently on track to launch at the expected time, which means November 2027 or November 2028 unless somehow things change.

And then you have Xbox who has always done November launches in North America, like I said. But I suppose there's always a chance Xbox 5 launches in the first half of 2027. Microsoft as a whole has a fiscal year that starts on July 1 and ends on June 30. 

Xbox 5 wouldn't be bad to launch at any point in 2026, but I think Microsoft is reluctant to do that because they don't want a repeat of the RROD. Had less Xbox 360s been produced around launch or the console was delayed to 2006 to work out manufacturing issues, RROD wouldn't have really been a thing.