Daniel Ahmad, the senior analyst of Niko Partners, believes that Sony and Microsoft will not push their respective console’s, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X (or consoles’ if they both will launch in two formats) launch to 2021.

Over the weekend, we wrote about how DFC Intelligence wasn’t sure about how the next generation’s launch would happen at the end of this year – however, they added that the demand will be big, and the new hardware could break records if the pricing is right. Now, here’s an opposing opinion from a well-known analyst: „With more people staying home, offline events cancelled, [and] new game releases [coming], we should see an increase in engagement and spend across video games as it becomes a key way for people to stay entertained at home.

Likely not as significant an impact as China, but still notable. Regarding [the] supply chain: [the Nintendo] Switch has been impacted due to production halts in China. 90% of all consoles shipped to the US in 2019 were produced in China. Production is starting to ramp back up again so the impact should be fairly limited, given demand in Q4 is higher than Q1/2.

Regarding next-gen consoles: [there are] always discussions regarding the ongoing situation. No reason to think there is a delay to the holiday launch. But things can always change very quickly. […] If we’re at a point where production is not at full capacity by the end of Q2 then that will be a reason for Microsoft and Sony to reconsider holiday launches of next-gen consoles,” Ahmad wrote throughout several tweets.

So Ahmad thinks the next-gen consoles will launch this Holiday season, and thus, pricing will play a key role. The PlayStation 4 had the upper hand this generation after it cost 100 dollars/euros less than the Xbox One (with its forced Kinect), but Microsoft had an opposing message about its console than what it turned out to be (it was touted as an online-only console in May 2013).

The PlayStation 5 (and the PlayStation 5 Pro?) and the Xbox Series X (and the Xbox Series S?) will launch this Holiday season.

Source: WCCFTech

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