Paul Raines, the CEO of video game retail giant GameStop, is fairly confident that we likely won't see a massive showdown between both next-gen consoles during next year's holiday season. In an interview with Polygon, Raines shared news on the latest rumblings coming from Sony and Microsoft.
"This week, I'm getting a lot of rumors that are very interesting about 2013. We have not been expecting two more consoles in 2013. We're expecting Wii U this holiday, another one next year, and another one in '14. These rumors change every week, but we're hearing more about next year," he explained.
If this turns out to be the case, Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter believes that Microsoft will be the company that opts to launch its next-gen console in 2014. In a research note (via CVG) Pachter shared why it is likely that the Xbox 720 won't release until the following spring—after the release of Sony's PS4 during the close of 2013.
"We have heard no word yet from Microsoft or Sony about their plans to launch new consoles, but both manufacturers are widely expected to launch consoles by year-end 2013, although we believe that Microsoft could delay a new console launch until spring of 2014 in order to accommodate what is certain to be overwhelming demand among hardcore gamers," Pachter said.
What do you think? Will Sony launch ahead of Microsoft? Would the holiday 2013 window be far too crowded with both the new Xbox and PlayStation on the market? Let us know in the comments below.