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Who do you think will launch their system first, Sony or MS?

Based on past track records and the fact that we haven't seen the PS4 as yet, I'd say MS. Remember last time when the PS3 came out a year after they said it would?
 
I'm imaging a dumb Civ V scenario where Microsoft and Sony are both working on the "Next-Gen Console" Great Wonder, and neither know who will finish first until it is too late at E3.
 
I'd like to think MS has the better logistical network to make an early and simultaneous release. Sony won't be anymore than 1 month later then MS. That month will so friggin busy lol.

Imagine the queues..

What I am picturing now is MS/Sony at E3, all exclusives stated. At the end of show they announce price and announce the console will released by months end. Megaton.
 
Sony's clearly better prepared. But they'll be close to each other.

Let's map out a calendar of November as we know it right now...

NOVEMBER 5th - Call of Duty: Ghosts (current gen)
NOVEMBER 19th - Watch Dogs
NOVEMBER 29th - Black Friday

Sony's release date history with gaming hardware launches in North America...
- PlayStation 2 - October 26th, 2000 (THURSDAY)
- PlayStation Portable - March 24th, 2005 (THURSDAY)
- PlayStation 3 - November 17th, 2006 (FRIDAY - one week prior to Black Friday; two days prior to the Nintendo Wii)
- PlayStation Vita - February 15th, 2012 (WEDNESDAY)

Microsoft's release date history with gaming hardware launches in North America...
- Xbox V1/OG - November 15th, 2001 (THURSDAY - 8 days prior to Black Friday; three days prior to the Nintendo GameCube)
- Xbox 360 - November 22nd, 2005 (TUESDAY - 3 days prior to Black Friday)

What can we take from this?

A same-day release for both systems is unlikely. But they don't need to give their competitor a wide berth, either. 2-3 days has been a sufficient enough gap in the past when one of these systems emerged alongside a Nintendo console.

There is going to be breathing room between the launches of this new hardware and Call of Duty. My bet is at least a week; probably at least 9 days. And, obviously, they'll both be out before Black Friday.

So let's consider the most likely release date possibilities...
- Thursday, November 14th
- Friday, November 15th
- Tuesday, November 19th
- Wednesday, November 20th
- Thursday, November 21st
- Friday, November 22nd
- Tuesday, November 26th

My suspicion is that if both systems come out this November - they will ship on one of the above 7 dates. While I think there's an outside shot of Sony pushing things to October, I think Microsoft is going to wield its muscle here domestically.

So I'm going to predict the following release dates:

Tuesday, November 19th - Xbox One
Friday, November 22nd - PlayStation 4
 
MS seem to be scrabbling a little, but that may be more about marketing scrabbling than supply chain scrabbling. If I were a betting man I'd put money on Sony being able to release earlier - they may choose not to though.
 
I think Sony will try to make a window in mid to late October. MS will likely shoot for the first week of November. Every day they get in the marketplace ahead of Black Friday is pretty significant, and I think Sony will want to give their first party games time to stretch their legs out and try to build some good system word of mouth, since they, at least in America, are the system seller with the greater burden to sway the buying public...
 
They'll both release as soon as they can ship the hardware. Even if the system software isn't ready, they'll just do an out of the box 2-hour update (power of the cloud).
 
Just like with the price announcement. Both of them are probably waiting for each Other.

Nintendo blew their One Year Advantage sometime awful, 2014 is going to be a bloodbath.
 
Whoever's conference is first is going to be launching later, as long as the predetermined date of the later presenters conference is within a negligible difference of the first. Or Sony could be better prepared (as they appear to be) and launch first or Microsoft could be looking to erase/downplay their negative press at the moment and launch first to get an early lead. Who knows, but I'd lean towards Sony, they seem "hungry".
 
i don't know which will be first, but I do believe they will only be within weeks of one another.

I pray to the gaming gods it's not the same day though. No way I'm standing in the freezing cold behind TWO armies of early adopters. Fuuuuuuk that shit...

If I feel I'm gonna be in that line for longer than 4 hours I'm out. I could go maybe 8 hours in a warmer climate, but Michigan in November? lol
 
MS will go first in Oct followed by Sony in Nov.

However MS will launch only in NA and wait until late Nov for Europe and Japan.

Also I think since the console needs to be online MS will bundle an xbox live sub with the system for $300 with a $15 family pass per month and Sony will launch at $400
 
CREMSteve said:
They will both launch within two weeks of one another.

November 13th Sony
November 27th Microsoft

/bestguess
Click to expand...

I'm going with your guess too since I believe Sony will launch first and those dates look about right. Even though I'm not gonna get a PS4 at launch so this doesn't matter to me (waiting till Christmas), it's still interesting to see what each competitor is going to do.
 
PS4: November 11th (Monday)
Xbone: November 19th (or maybe the 12th) (Tuesday)


Past precedent (NA) for Microsoft seems to favor the traditional Tuesday (same as software release days). Microsoft would seemingly want to get about a week or so of sales in before the Thanksgiving mayhem of Black Friday.

Sony however, releases hardware whenever the F they feel like it (PS3 released on a Friday and the Vita released on a Wednesday). That's going to be the wildcard.
 
IHaveCandy said:
It would be funny to see people argue about which system is better as they wait.
Click to expand...

Oh man it would be GREAT!

There would be two separate lines for the midnight launch. Then we'll have a Retail Musings thread where people will say, "Oh the One line was way longer than the PS4, all my friends were buying software like crazy, dat attach ratio." "The PS4 was generally positive and made up of a ton of fans, but the xbone line seemed made up of scalpers. I wonder what the return rate of the xbone will be come next month..." Screenshots would be produced. Line counts would occur.

It would be glorious. Glorious...
 
Black Friday is late this year.

Since we've actually seen the XBone, I would make it the slight favorite. I wish it were the same day, there would be so many great stories.
 
Forceatowulf said:
i don't know which will be first, but I do believe they will only be within weeks of one another.

I pray to the gaming gods it's not the same day though. No way I'm standing in the freezing cold behind TWO armies of early adopters. Fuuuuuuk that shit...

If I feel I'm gonna be in that line for longer than 4 hours I'm out. I could go maybe 8 hours in a warmer climate, but Michigan in November? lol
Click to expand...

Amazon, brah. I somehow suckered a friend or two into waiting outside for the Xbox 360 and then another friend for the PS3 but both launches were outside a Best Buy in sunny Florida. Weather is a lot nicer down there.

Now I'm up in Boston, a little older, and (I hope) a little wiser. Preordering on Amazon is my comfort blanket for next gen.
 
Has anyone mentioned MS showed what looked like final hardware to the press at the reveal? Motherboard and everything. Maybe they are already manufacturing and planning a stealth 360 Slim bombshell at e3?
 
it would be crazy and amazing if they both launched on the same day

wallets would cry and fights or arguments would break out


do it Sony and Microsoft
 
Callibretto said:
There will be riot on the street as we literally see the console war takes place. Lol
Click to expand...

World War III? Considering both may be worldwide launches. Japan should be a safe haven :P

yurinka said:
Sony will be the first, and will have a cheaper price ($399 vs $499).
Click to expand...

It would be funny since Microsoft has their E3 press conference first. They announce their date and price, then Sony 1ups Microsoft by announcing an earlier date and a cheaper price point.
 
I hope it's Sony, OR at least that they're really close. If Xbox One launches first, it will make the wait for PS4 much harder.
 
Based on persistent rumors, Sony is better prepared in basically every single facet. Their APU was supposedly finished first. Their development environment is more mature. They announced first. They even scooped MS by showing a blurry image of the final PS4 hardware a day before MS unveiled XBone. They've also shown actual games being played, a feat MS couldn't match months later. I would not be surprised if the PS4 is announced as releasing in September and ends up with a couple month lead over the Xbox One.

EDIT: I'm reasonably certain they will announce a release date AND price at E3.
 
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