Xbox 720 Release Date: New Console Could Debut in Late 2013

Will we be seeing the Xbox 360 in 2013? Possibly, says one source.

According to tech site SemiAccurate, which claims to have originally broken the news about the next Xbox’s main chip, “if Microsoft is going to launch their next generation console this year, they almost assuredly made the December 31 date.”

That deadline, apparently, is referring to the silicone production wafers for the next Xbox, which Microsoft has allegedly managed to complete by the end of 2012.

If this is true, the website claims, the company will be able to release the console in 2013. However, SemiAccurate asserts that Microsoft is still on a very tight schedule because any “delay of more than a few weeks will mean no new console in 2013, there just won’t be enough time to make them.”

This doesn’t seem to gel with an earlier rumor, also reported by SemiAccurate, that the next Xbox was facing manufacturing troubles and probably would not be able to make the 2013 deadline.

However, if this new report and the subsequent implications are true, it is not entirely surprising that Microsoft is trying to launch their new console this year, even when Sony has not made any claims to do so. Remember that the Xbox 360 was released a year in advance of the PlayStation 3.

Interestingly, it was later reported that Microsoft, in their rush to launch the console quickly, ignored the fact that nearly 68% of the consoles coming off the assembly line were failing at one point. The subsequent Red Ring of Death fiasco cost Microsoft over $1 billion, so one would think they might be hesitant to rush production this time.

SemiAccurate also claims that some news outlets have started circulating incorrect names for the next-generation of consoles, such as “Oban” and “Kryptos” for the future Xbox and “Thebes” for the PlayStation 4. These names, according to the website, are either for the chip being used in the console or for the design projects of said chips. According to some reports, the Xbox 720 is codenamed Durango while the PlayStation 4 is named Orbis.

Regardless, whatever the case may be, Sony has admitted it will be hesitant to delay their announcement too long after Microsoft’s. So, whenever one console is officially announced, the second cannot be far off.

Be sure to stay tuned in at 6:00 p.m. EST for Live updates on Sony’s announcements.