Once a giant of the video game retail industry, GameStop is now struggling. GameStop was nearly bought out this past February, and then the company reported a full-year loss of $673 million. Despite these hardships, GameStop thinks that there may very well be a bright future ahead of it, and that is thanks to the impending launch of the PlayStation 5 and next-generation Xbox.

Speaking to investors, GameStop CFO Rob Lloyd said,  "With respect to new hardware, as we get closer to the end of the current console cycle for Xbox and PlayStation, we expect demand to decline as some customers choose to wait on the sidelines in anticipation of acquiring the next generation of innovative consoles." He said this to help shareholders understand why sales for the PS4 and Xbox One will slow in 2019, suggesting that GameStop believes the PS5 and next-generation Xbox will be announced this year.

If the PS5 and next Xbox are announced in 2019, it wouldn't be all that surprising. The general consensus right now is that next-gen consoles will launch in 2020, so a 2019 announcement would make sense. As for when exactly the next-gen consoles will be announced, that remains to be seen, but we have some ideas.

gamestop suggests ps5 and next xbox will be announced this year

In regards to the next-generation Xbox console, it seems like a safe bet that the console will be announced at E3 2019. Microsoft is going big at E3 2019 to capitalize on Sony's absence, and what better way to generate significant buzz than by announcing a brand new, next-generation machine. If Microsoft does officially announce the next-gen Xbox console at E3, though, it may be relatively light on details like release date and price, since we'd still likely be at least a year away from launch.

With Sony skipping E3 2019, when it will announce the PS5 is a little more difficult to predict. There is one rumor that suggests Sony will announce the PS5 at PSX 2019, and that the entire event will be dedicated to showing off its next-gen console. With PSX set to take place in December and the console itself expected to launch in the 2020 holiday season, a December showcase wouldn't be entirely out of the question.

Whether next-gen consoles are announced in 2019 or 2020 remains to be seen, but it's clear that the current-generation hardware is on its way out, and it will be exciting to see what the future holds for gaming.

Source: GameSpot