It looks like Microsoft is making too much money on the Xbox 360 to consider releasing a new game console this year. The company confirmed Friday that it won’t be bringing along any new Xbox hardware to June’s E3 video game conference, and from the sounds of things, there won’t be a so-called Xbox 720 until 2013 at the earliest.
“We can confirm that there will be no talk of new Xbox hardware at E3 or anytime soon,” Microsoft’s David Dennis said in an emailed statement on Friday. “For us, 2012 is all about Xbox 360, and it’s the best year ever for Xbox 360.”
While not an outright denial that the next Xbox could be released in 2012, the official Microsoft position seems to align with a Bloomberg report from earlier in the day citing unnamed sources who said the software giant wants to “squeeze … at least one more year of sales out of its current model.”
Dennis elaborated on Microsoft’s success with the current hardware platform, saying, “Xbox 360 didn’t just outsell other consoles, it also outsold all other TV-connected devices like DVD players, as well as digital media receivers and home theater systems. And in our seventh year, we sold more consoles than in any other year, defying convention.”
Rumors about Microsoft’s next-generation game console have been circulating for months. In January, reports from several outlets touted a 2013 release for the successor to the 360. It’s also been speculated that the next Xbox will have built-in software that rejects used games, that its controller will sport a touch screen, and that it will pack a new chipset code named Oban that combines a Power PC central processor from IBM with Radeon HD 7000-series graphics from Advanced Micro Devices.
Dennis pointed to new media content being made available on the Xbox 360, as well as upcoming games like Halo 4 and Fable: The Journey that are built for the console and its popular Kinect motion sensor accessory. “Our 2012 Xbox lineup is our strongest ever,” he said. He also noted that Microsoft will be making Xbox games, music, and video available via Windows 8 when the company releases its next-generation operating system, which is expected to happen in the fourth quarter of this year.
[pcmag]
