Since the original Xbox came out Sony and Microsoft have been at war with each other, over who can create the best consol.
Sony had a bit of a head start as they had already created a fan base with the original Playstation, and had brought the PS2 out before Microsoft had brought out the original Xbox.
In this case Microsoft was playing catch up, that was until Microsoft decided to release their next gen console and gain some serious market share with their Xbox 360, the PS2 however was not giving up without a fight, and it stood its ground for almost a year before Sony decided they would need to play catch up, and release the PS3.
Sony has decided that they will not be playing catch-up this time, and is looking to release the PlayStation 4 in the same year as Microsoft releases its Xbox 720.
There’s been a lot of speculation as to when Sony and Microsoft’s next-gen consoles will be released, with some believing as soon as 2012. So this could be the year when it all kicks off regarding the next-gen console wars.
Regardless of when the consoles are released, it seems that unlike the launch of the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 (which were over a year apart) we are very likely to see both consoles come out at a similar time.
PlayStation Europe CEO Jim Ryan said: “I think we would consider it undesirable to be significantly later than the competition [with the next PlayStation].”
He also noted, that there is still a lot of life left in the PS3 and explained: “If you look at PlayStation 2, now in excess of 150m units installed globally, a huge majority of that was done at price points of £120 or lower.”
“We’ve only just hit £199 in the UK [with the PS3] so clearly there’s a considerable untapped part of the market there.”
One of the reasons this generation of consoles are enjoying a good lifespan is accessories. Just this week, Sony announced that it had hit the 9 million mark with the PlayStation Move and was slowly catching up with Microsoft’s Kinect levels.
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