Wedbush Securities Analyst and regular videogame rumour-mongerer Michael Pachter has predicted that the PlayStation 4 will launch in October or November 2013.
Speaking with Play magazine (via NowGamer), Pachter believes that Sony will not want Microsoft to beat them to launch like it did when it released the Xbox 360 almost one year in advance of the PlayStation 3.
"I don’t think Sony wants to launch behind Microsoft again,” said Pachter, so I’m confident we’ll see a PS4 in October or November 2013.”
Pachter believes this will be a perfect time for Sony to get a head-start on Microsoft in the next round of console wars.
"It isn’t likely that they will launch earlier, as it doesn’t make sense to get out too far in front of software, and I’m pretty confident that few developers have been working on PS4 games for more than a year or so. Holiday 2013 will be a comfortable window for Sony, and will give them a chance to get a head start on Microsoft."
Pachter also predicts upcoming price cuts for the PS3 and still believes that Sony’s current-gen console has around three years left before sales will dip significantly.
"The PS3 probably has a solid three years left for sales, so it should make it comfortably to a 10-year life span," he said. "There are a lot of people who are uncomfortable spending $250 for a console, so I think price cuts to the $199, $149 and $99 will extend the life of a console."
Some of the most recent rumours about Sony’s next-gen console revolve around the specifications. According to leaked specs of development kits, apparently sent out to developers earlier this year, the PS4 will sport an AMD Radeon HD 7670 video system, a 128-bit Bus, GDDR5 1GB of GDDR5 video memory and either 8GB or 16GB of system RAM.
Sony has yet to reveal any official details on the PS4.