Activision: Xbox One, PS4 price drops could come sooner than current-gen

Price drops for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 could come faster than they did for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said today during a post-earnings financial call.

"They've made more investments in the back office than ever before. I think you've got lots of efficiency in manufacturing costs that could potentially drive hardware prices down sooner in the cycle," Kotick said about Microsoft and Sony. "There's no indication, from our perspective, that you're going to see anything other than a very successful next seven or eight years."

The Xbox One will sell for $500 at launch on November 22, while the PlayStation 4 will debut on November 15 at $400. By comparison, the Xbox 360 launched in 2005 at $300/$400, while the PS3 came to market in 2006 at $500/$600.

The Xbox 360's first price cut came 20 months into the platform's lifecycle, while Sony implemented the first PS3 price drop in July 2007, seven months after release.