The PS6 and next Xbox console won't launch until 2028, according to Microsoft and Sony
The PS6 and next Xbox console won't launch until 2028, according to Microsoft and Sony
We've got another six years of the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S to come
➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: Next-gen launch
😲 The PS6 and next Xbox console aren’t expected to launch before 2028
💪 Sony and Microsoft hinted at the timings in a new report on market competition
🧑💼 The launch dates will be crucial to the approval of Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard
🎁 The current-gen systems still have plenty to offer
Sony and Microsoft don’t expect to launch next-generation consoles until 2028, leaving us waiting six years before we get our hands on the PS6 and next Xbox.
The launch timings were revealed in a series of new documents released as part of the UK Competition and Markets Authority’s ongoing review of Microsoft’s planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
In a statement concerning the proposed buyout and Microsoft’s promise to keep Call of Duty multiplatform, Sony claimed Microsoft has offered to continue releasing Activision’s games on PlayStation consoles until 2027. It then went on to say that by the time it has “launched the next generation of its PlayStation console… it would have lost access to Call of Duty and other Activision titles”.
Taken together, the two statements suggest Sony doesn’t plan to launch a next-gen console until after 2027, when it also expects the Call of Duty series will be wrenched off its platforms. That gives you plenty of time to secure a PS5 restock and make the most of the best PS5 games before Sony’s flagship console is usurped.
In a separate report, Microsoft confirmed a similar timeline for its own next-gen system. It said the launch of new consoles “occurs approximately every eight years” and “the next new generation of consoles are not expected to be released before the fall of 2028 at the very earliest”.
The timing makes sense. The PS4 was released in 2013, seven years after the 2006 launch of the PS3. It was followed seven years later by the PS5 in 2020. Similarly, the Xbox 360 launched in 2005, was followed eight years later by the Xbox One, which was succeeded seven years down the line with the recent Xbox Series X|S.
A seven or eight-year gap between console generations has become the norm, so a 2028 launch for the PS6 and the next Xbox sounds reasonable. This most recent generation has been off to a particularly slow start, with the global chip shortage hampering the supply of next-gen consoles and frequent development delays pushing back major first-party releases.
There are still many miles left on the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S runways. Between Sony’s upcoming DualSense Edge controller, PSVR 2 release date, and the many Xbox Series X games on the way, this generation is far from complete.
As is the Activision Blizzard deal. Sony has repeatedly pushed back against the deal, suggesting Call of Duty’s unrivaled scale and popularity would hand Microsoft an unfair competitive commercial advantage. But Activision is confident the deal will successfully pass by June next year, and Microsoft has already set its sights on other games in Activision’s portfolio outside of Call of Duty.