Industry analyst: Xbox 720 to release this November, $400 price point

Oftentimes, when it comes to analyzing our wonderful industry, the always-pleasant Michael Pachter presents us with predictions and analysis, but today another industry analyst has voiced their opinion on the inevitable next-gen console launch; more specifically the “Xbox 720,” as it’s currently known to be.

In an interview with gamesindustry, Colin Sebastian, an analyst at Baird Equity Research, stated that he believes the Xbox 720/Durango will be released to the public this November at a $400 price point. Sebastian also told gamesindustry that he believes that we’ll see both the Playstation 4 and Xbox 720 announced at separate media events (a la Apple), and have their first playable demos at this year’s E3 in Los Angeles.

"Given the fragile state of the console game market, we expect the E3 trade show in June will take on added significance, most likely providing the industry with the first public opportunity to examine next-generation hardware," Sebastian stated.

The Baird analyst also believes that both next-gen consoles will be built off of “high-end PC components,” that will favor development cycles, and more so, Microsoft’s game business.

“Moreover, a PC-based architecture (Intel chips in the case of Xbox) should have a number of advantages over custom-developed silicon: for one, the learning curve for software developers will be shorter than completely new technology. Second, the cost of production and retail price points should be lower than prior console launches.”

“…It will be easier to build online services around PC chip architecture, including flexible business models (free-to-play, subscriptions) and multi-media (over the top) content offerings. For Microsoft, this design will also allow for more integration with Windows 8 and Windows Mobile devices," he added.”

Sebastian’s interview also touched on Sony’s development cycle of the Playstation 4. Interestingly enough, he believes we’ll see the PS4 a month earlier than the Xbox 720, so October in Sebastian’s words, though he predictions the next-gen Sony product may feature ”early production issues” due to what he called “field checks.”

Though there’s still much to learn when it comes to these next-gen consoles, Sebastian’s predictions do not seem too far-fetched, especially when it comes to the console unveils. We now turn to you, though; when do you believe we’ll see the PS4 and Xbox 720 unveiled to the public? Let us know by commenting below.

Source: [gamesindustry]