Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter has made a couple of predictions regarding the game industry before. His newest though, while possible, does seem unlikely.
In an interview with XBOX Magazine, Pachter believes that an Xbox 720 could retail for as little as $99, "if the customer commits to a cable TV subscription for two years." And therin lies the rub. Pachter explains: "It's pretty clear to me that Microsoft intends to allow the Xbox 720 to function as a cable TV box, allowing cable television service providers to broadcast over the Internet through the box, with SmartGlass as the remote controller, and with the Xbox 720 using Windows 8 to split the TV signal into multiple feeds, allowing consumers to divert different channel feeds to different displays within the home."
Additionally, Pachter predicts the next Xbox won't be seen until spring of 2014. Having it show up past the holiday season, Pachter believes, allows for money to be available, since spring is a period where most aren't expected to buy presents for family.
Microsoft has remained fairly tight lipped on doling out any information concerning it's newest console, going so far as to demand that a recently leaked document be taken down from several websites, despite that they've yet to confirm the documents authenticity.
Maybe they'll give us something to go on at Comic Con.
