Gates: Next Gen Xbox Could Overtake Sony - Analyst: Current Gen Ends with PS3 Launch, Not Xbox 360

Reuters - The next generation of Microsoft’s Xbox gaming console, due to be unveiled later this month, will give the world’s largest software maker a chance to overtake the leader in the gaming business, Sony Corp, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said on Monday.

“Our goal in the last generation was to be in the game,” Gates told reporters, “We came out of this round a strong number two.”

Gates, speaking at a meeting of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, said that the newest version of the Xbox, code-named Xenon, would have an array of features that will make the device a more versatile tool for games, music, video and pictures in the living room.

Gates also emphasized how Xenon would take advantage of the growing availability of televisions and content in high-definition (HD) format, which allows clearer pictures to be displayed on large, wide screens.

“What we’ve got in this (next round), at some significant financial cost, was the right to play again with great credibility,” Gates said. “So now people are looking at the two companies at a pretty much equal basis.”

GamedailyBiz - According to [Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter], the introduction of the Xbox 360 by Microsoft will not have as great an impact as one might think. He believes that the launch of the next-gen PlayStation sometime in 2006 will be the true end of the current console cycle.

“I think… in 2010, Sony’s going to have 55%, Microsoft’s going to have 35% and Nintendo 10%, with all three of those having +/- 5%,” Michael Pachter, Wedbush Morgan on next-gen market share