Speaking in the second part of a new interview, Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft’s entertainment & devices group, has discussed the company’s current plans for a successor to the Xbox 360 and expected timelines for any prospective new console.
Continuing his
interview with Dean Takahashi, the first part of which
focused on the Zune portable entertainment player, Bach was asked several direct questions regarding a next generation successor to the current Xbox 360.
Asked when he expected a new console to be introduced, Bach was understandably reticent to provide any specific predictions, instead noting that “Sony launched in Japan in 1999. We launched in the U.S. in 2001. They are still selling PlayStation 2s."
"You see cycles are lengthening and the ability to have overlapping consoles in the market is growing. For a long time, after Sony shipped PS3, PS2 was outselling it. It helps when you have a portfolio business,” he added.
Questioned on whether Microsoft would attach the same priority to being first to the new market in the next generation Bach admitted it was “too early to tell.”
“We have people working on those. People ask me how many people I have working on the next generation. On the one hand, it’s everybody. On the other, it’s nobody. People are continuously working on new technology,” he explained.
“We started thinking about the next generation before we shipped the Xbox 360”, said Bach when asked about the next console’s planning cycle. “It doesn’t start with a date. It starts way upstream with silicon development. From that comes a series of data points. You start making early technology choices. It’s an evolving thing. Stuff doesn’t become concrete until you get inside a window of when you have to ship, more than 18 months or so out.”
