Microsoft Say Xbox 720 Won't Be Coming This Year

By Matt Mann / January 31, 2012

With all the rumors about the next generation Xbox console floating around Microsoft, executives had to say something officially eventually. And for those hoping they might get their hands on the Xbox 720 (or whatever it ends up being called), prepare for a disappointment. Marketing director Cedrick Delmas of Microsoft France has announced that the next generation Xbox will not be coming this year after all. Delmas stated the following;

"We're in an industry that talks a lot, that likes telling stories. I am not convinced that things will happen this year. The Xbox 360's cycle is not over at all. The proof is that we haven't price cut this year. Afterward, what will happen at E3, it's still too early to say. What's certain is that there will be nothing new in 2012. If we wanted to counter Nintendo, we would have to be in a position to release something immediately, and that is not at all the case. We're not here to counter Nintendo and they're not here to fight the other manufacturers. Nintendo has put itself in a different cycle, it's going forward to its own rhythm, with success as we have seen with the Wii, and now it's their turn to present their innovation."

People in most video game circles didn't actually believe that the Xbox 720 would be coming out this year, most people have pegged a 2013 release for Microsoft's next console. However Delmas did not rule out the possibility that the next generation Xbox could still be announced this year at E3. My guess is that Microsoft will announce something about the next Xbox at this years E3, and chances are the system will be released next Fall in time for the 2013 Christmas rush.