Sony Might Not Reveal PS4 Until Microsoft Has Announced Next Xbox

If you believe the hype, Sony and Microsoft will be announcing their new consoles this year. We think both will, along with many other gamers and analysts out there. With the next generation seemingly on our doorstep, the only question now is which console will come first. Speaking to The Times (as reported by IGN), Sony CEO Kaz Hirai may have just answered that question by suggesting his company will let Microsoft go first.

"Why go first," Hirai asked, "when your competitors can look at your specifications and come up with something better?" That's all he said, leaving us to wonder if Sony will indeed wait until Microsoft has revealed the next Xbox before it announces the PlayStation 4. Of course, whatever advantage Microsoft would gain from Sony announcing its next-gen console first seems minimal at best, as most of the hardware in the next Xbox will likely be mostly – if not entirely – final by that point anyway.

Then again, it isn't as if being last out of the gate is a bad thing for a new console. Out of the big three for this generation, the Wii was the last to launch in the US. If you concern yourself with consoles at all, it's likely you know how that turned out. Just the same, the Dreamcast was the first console to launch in the prior generation, and that didn't end so well for Sega, with the company deciding to leave the console business altogether just a couple of years after it launched.

Still, with all signs pointing to an E3 2013 announcement for the next Xbox, it makes you wonder when Sony will announce the PlayStation 4 if Hirai really is planning to wait for Microsoft's own reveal. Perhaps we won't see the PS4 until the Tokyo Game Show this year? We'll just have to wait and see, so sit tight and try not to let the anticipation get to you.