For a pair of consoles we may not even get a chance to play for another 2-3 years, there's a pile of news coming regarding development and release dates for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox 720. Yesterday came news from industry insiders that Sony developers are working away on games for the PS4 and that the Xbox 720, apparently dubbed the Xbox Next, will see a full unveiling at E3 2013 with potential fall 2013 release.

With similar time lines, who will launch their console first?

RW Baird analyst Colin Sebastian spoke to IndustryGamers, explaining that they believe Sony will launch the next PlayStation before the next Xbox.

"I doubt they will be ready for launch in 2013.  Between Sony and Microsoft, we expect Sony to be first to market perhaps as early as 2013, but more likely in 2014.  There is still a lot of investment for both companies to recoup in the current generation."

Why do they expect Sony to be first?

There's no real insight or explanation given, and it doesn't offer anything different from what we already know about the speculated/rumored release dates of each console, outside of the prediction that Sony will release theirs first. But again, where does that come from?

If anything, the PlayStation 3 was initially predicted to have a longer life cycle than the Xbox 360 but dashboard/system updates, the release of the Kinect and improved models of the hardware all helped extend the life with more focus on software. Sony has the better priced console now with the recent PS3 price drop to $250 - how much lower can they go in the next two years? Perhaps they are setting up for a surprise early launch.

Microsoft had the jump with the current generation of consoles, releasing a full year ahead of the Wii and PS3. The next round, Nintendo goes first with the Wii U with speculation that Microsoft would do their first reveal of the Xbox 360 successor at E3 next summer.

We'll have to wait a while to see

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Source: IndustryGamers