Microsoft has confirmed that it will not be launching a successor to Xbox 360 this year.
According to a report on French website LePoint.fr (via Trader-France), Microsoft France’s Marketing Director Cedrick Delmas commented that “there will be nothing new in 2012″ regarding next-generation Xbox consoles.
“We are in an industry where it talks a lot, it likes to tell stories,” Delmas continued.
“I’m not convinced that things are happening this year. The cycle of the Xbox 360 is far from over. The proof we are not at all parties on the logic of price drop this year. Then what will happen at E3, it is still premature. What is certain is that there will be nothing new in 2012.”
Rumours regarding an imminent unveil of Microsoft’s next-gen Xbox console have been mounting in recent months.
The firm had been expected to announce its next-generation console at E3 this June. That could still happen, of course, but a 2012 release now seems unlikely.
According to job specifications, numerous development studios have been ramping up their staff to start looking at next-generation console development.
Rockstar, LucasArts, Infinity Ward, Codemasters, Crytek and Creative Assembly are all expected to already be working on next-generation technology.
So far, Nintendo is the only hardware manufacturer to reveal its plans for the next-generation. Wii successor Wii U is due to go on sale worldwide before Christmas.
Delmas added that if Microsoft “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.”
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