Recent reports have revealed that both Xbox and PlayStation are not planning to release new consoles until 2028.
This information was made public by Microsoft and Sony Interactive Entertainment in response to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). If you are interested in the state of the video game industry, you can check out our other articles here.
Xbox and PlayStation Not Releasing New Consoles Until 2028
Newly released documents indicate that Microsoft and Sony Interactive Entertainment will not launch new consoles until 2028 at the earliest.
Both Sony Interactive Entertainment and Microsoft launched the PS5 and Xbox Series X | S in November 2020.
In its response to the CMA’s concerns over the Activision Blizzard acquisition, Microsoft said that new consoles are still years away and they claimed that any impact of the Activision Blizzard deal is highly speculative.
The parties [Microsoft and Activision] don’t dispute that some gamers tend to reassess their console ownership at the start of a new generation. But they also noted that this is an event that only happens roughly every eight years.
Indeed, the next generation of consoles is not expected to be released before the fall of 2028 at the earliest.
Microsoft
In its largely redacted statement, Sony Interactive Entertainment also referenced Microsoft’s offer to keep Call of Duty available on PlayStation until 2027 and how this could impact the fate of their new console.
Microsoft has offered to continue making Activision games available on PlayStation only until 2027… By the time SIE launches its next-generation PlayStation console (which is likely to be around the year [redacted]), SIE will have lost access to Call of Duty and other Activision titles, leaving it highly vulnerable to consumer switching and a decline in its competitiveness.Microsoft has offered to continue making Activision games available on PlayStation only until 2027… By the time SIE launches its next-generation PlayStation console (which is likely to be around the year [redacted]), SIE will have lost access to Call of Duty and other Activision titles, leaving it highly vulnerable to consumer switching and a decline in its competitiveness.
Even assuming that SIE has the ability and resources to develop a franchise as successful as Call of Duty, it would take years and billions of dollars to create a Call of Duty challenger – and EA’s Battlefield example shows that such an endeavour is unlikely to succeed.
Sony Interactive Entertainment
Ultimately, the CMA has the authority to block Activision Blizzard’s acquisition from being completed if what it determines to be the appropriate course of action.
