It was only two weeks ago when an Xbox 720 logo was spotted in the film Real Steel, adding more fuel to the speculation that Microsoft may unveil the Xbox 360 successor next year at E3 2012 and it was further teased by some recent LinkedIn profiles of Microsoft employees that vaguely revealed specific positions in relation to next-gen Xbox development. Multiple sources across the industry, from processor chip manufacturers to middleware firms, have told Develop they expect the console to be fully unveiled at E3 2013 and the collection of data points to a 2013 launch for the system across all main regions, though early 2014 remains a possibility.Also there have been various signs that indicate that an Xbox 720 is in the works and Microsoft stating that the Xbox 360 is considered the Xbox 720 to them…………………….
A new report suggests that the next Xbox will be unveiled at E3 2013 with a planned holiday release later that year and there have been a whole lot of rumors regarding the debut of the next Xbox (lovingly referred to as the Xbox 720 by everyone but Microsoft), as well as the PlayStation 4. A new report coming out of Develop claims that a date has been tentatively planned by Microsoft and if the report is accurate, the next Xbox will be unveiled at E3 2013 with a planned launch window of that holiday season or early 2014. The Xbox 360 debuted in November 2005 and Microsoft has said that it has a ten year plan for their console. A 2013 release would make for an eight year gap and a new console release doesn’t mean that support for the Xbox 360 will immediately stop. If the console is released in late 2013, it will likely be at least two years before the Xbox 360 comes close to ending its support and the release date also fits with some of the rumors we have been hearing regarding several Xbox-exclusive developers. And if the Xbox 720 is coming in 2013, the PlayStation 4 can’t be far behind, the year lead that Sony gave to Microsoft has proven to be a massive advantage. Originally most assumed that the next Xbox would be released in 2015, but evidence has been mounting that the console will be revealed much sooner than that. The next batch of rumors put both the next Xbox and the PS4 in 2014, then the reports seemed to suggest that both the next Xbox and the PS4 would hit in 2012. A new series of job placement ads on LinkedIn seem to confirm that work is moving ahead at full steam, but 2013 seems like a more realistic target. The likely reasoning behind the faster development cycle is the Wii U, which is due sometime in 2012. The Wii U will not be as powerful as what most are expecting with the next Xbox and the PS4, but it will be a significant increase over the Xbox 360 and PS3, not to mention the current Wii.
Further Developments:
- Develop understands that Lionhead is working on a project internally named Fable Next, which will launch on the new console.
- Epic Games’ new Unreal Engine would likely be available sooner than the 2014 date recently given by studio founder Tim Sweeney.
- One source still insists that an EA studio already has rudimentary Xbox console technology on desks and EA has flatly denied the claim.
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