Microsoft reveals that its next-gen consoles won’t come out until 2028

Microsoft’s Xbox Series S and Series X are reported to remain the company’s flagship consoles until 2028.

This means the current-gen consoles will have an eight-year lifespan.

The detail was revealed in a new court document (via IGN),  released as part of Microsoft’s legal battle with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which is trying to block Microsoft’s $69 billion USD (about $91 billion CAD) Activision Blizzard deal on antitrust grounds. The company also confirmed that it would continue to publish Call of Duty games on PlayStation platforms for ten years if its acquisition of Activision Blizzard goes through.

The trial began this week in San Francisco, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Xbox chief Phil Spencer, and other executives are set to testify. One of the main concerns raised by the FTC and other opponents of the deal is that Microsoft could use its ownership of Activision Blizzard to limit or exclude access to popular franchises like Call of Duty and Diablo on rival platforms like PlayStation and Nintendo Switch.

Microsoft has attempted to address these concerns by announcing several agreements with other video game companies to make sure that other platforms are not locked out of Activision Blizzard’s catalogue. For example, Microsoft signed a 10-year deal with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty titles to its consoles. However, Microsoft has not reached a similar agreement with Sony yet.

It’s worth noting that a report from Thursday, June 22nd stated that Sony would hide details about its next-gen PS6 from Activision Blizzard if Microsoft succeeds in acquiring it. “We simply could not run the risk of a company that was owned by a direct competitor having access to that information,” said PlayStation chief Jim Ryan. Read more about it here.

Through the hearing, we also know that Microsoft was working on a standalone version of Xbox Cloud Gaming. Read more about it here.

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Source: IGN