There are many rumors concerning the next generation of consoles, and speculation continues to mount as the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One continue to age. One NPD analyst suggests we may hear from Microsoft and Sony this year regarding their next consoles.
NPD analyst Mat Piscatella told Gaming Bolt recently that he expects announcements from the two companies in 2019. However, these may not be traditional follow-ups to consoles like we have seen in the past.
“I’m forecasting announcements in 2019 for 2020 launches for both PlayStation 5 and the next Xbox,” Piscatella told GamingBolt. “However, I do think we’ve moved past the traditional generational model. I expect both manufacturers to add features that will further blur these lines.”
Piscatella also said that with the announcements of new consoles coming, sales of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One may fall this year prior to new consoles arriving on the market.
“I forecast both PS4 and Xbox One hardware unit sales to decline in the single-digit percentages next year, but more because we’re nearing the latter stages of the cycle, and I don’t anticipate either making drastic moves on price,” he said. “Both systems have done well in the US, but 2019 will likely be a transition year as we move into 2020.”
The latest rumors regarding Microsoft’s next console seems to fall in line with that Piscatella mentioned. The next Xbox console, currently codenamed Scarlett, is actually rumored to be two consoles: one that will read discs and another that will be more cloud- focused.
Meanwhile, a report from Kotaku made in April of last year indicates that a future PlayStation console could be released in 2020, though at the time was still early in development. Still, with no PSX event being held last year, and with Sony’s upcoming absence from E3 this year, speculation has mounted regarding what exactly they are working on.
