The next generation of gaming consoles only in 2028?

In the leaked court documents, Microsoft said that the "expected start date" of the next generation of consoles is 2028.

This means that we can expect the next generation of Xbox and PlayStation 6 consoles eight years after the release of Xbox Series X and S and PlayStation 5.

The news comes from documents that have been made public as part of a major lawsuit between Microsoft and the FTC (US Federal Trade Commission), which began recently.

Microsoft and the Xbox brand are in a hurry as company executives head to federal court to defend their proposed nearly $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard from the FTC.

The legal battle between Microsoft and the FTC began last December, when the commission announced plans to block the company's $68.7 billion purchase of Call of Duty, Diablo and Candy Crush games. Last week, a federal court in California issued a temporary restraining order requested by the FTC, which for now practically blocks the deal between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard.

In the court process, the FTC will try to issue a temporary ban on the purchase of Activision Blizzard studios. If the injunction is successful, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard will be unable to complete the purchase while the FTC examines the deal's compliance with US antitrust laws.

In the published documents, Microsoft discussed the 10-year duration of its commitment to Sony to release Call of Duty games on PlayStation platforms, if the deal goes through.

"This period would in any case exceed the expected lifetime of the next generation of consoles (in 2028)," Microsoft said. Thus, Call of Duty will be released on the following PlayStation consoles that appear during the term of the agreement. The deal will also ensure that Call of Duty console games will be available on PlayStation in the same way as on Xbox.” The 2028 release is consistent with a previous document in which Sony said it doesn't expect the next-generation PlayStation to be released until at least 2027. In that document, published last November, Sony claimed it expects losing access to the Call of Duty franchise precisely in 2027. Microsoft's filing today opposes this proposal.

Microsoft has announced more agreements with competing companies in the gaming industry in order to convince regulators to approve the purchase of Activision Blizzard. For example, he signed a 10-year agreement with Nintendo to release Call of Duty for its consoles. However, they failed to conclude a similar contract with Sony, despite the fact that the proposal was already prepared.

Sony's proposal to aimč provides for further distribution of all Activision games on the PlayStation platform in the same way as on Xbox, Microsoft said. Microsoft sent a draft of this agreement in December, but Sony has so far refused to cooperate.

Sony has yet to announce plans for the PlayStation 6, but recently said it will not share those plans with Activision Blizzard if Microsoft's purchase goes through. Jim Ryan, PlayStation's chief executive, told the FTC that he could not release "extremely sensitive" information about the next console to the company that owns rival Xbox.