The next-gen circus is upon us and everybody has something to say about the next wave of game consoles from Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony. The Wii U is still a relative mystery even though it’s launching later this year. We actually know more about the next Xbox and PlayStation console thanks to leaks. One thing all three have in common, however, is the absence of a release date.

Thanks to Microsoft, we may now know the time frame in which the Xbox 720, or Xbox 8, is going to launch. A recent job posting, which is no longer available, asked for a person to oversee product launches over the next 18 months. One of the products mentioned was the Xbox brand.

Here’s the full job posting courtesy of Video Gamer:

“Over the next eighteen months Microsoft will release new versions of all of our most significant products including Windows (Client, Server, Phone and Azure), Office and Xbox, along with completely new offerings like Microsoft Surface.”

“This wave of product launches will define the course of the company for years to come and thus provides an unprecedented opportunity for us to refresh and evolve our strategic brands. The Microsoft brand strategy team is looking for passionate, creative, team oriented branding experts to help us lead this transformation.”

By 18 months, Microsoft obviously means next year. They have their hands full with Windows 8 and Surface for the remainder of this year and well into the next. It wouldn’t be out of question to see the next Xbox spring up late 2013 either. It would only give the Wii U a one year head start and they would no doubt beat Sony to the punch.

The job posting, unfortunately, doesn’t delve any deeper into any kind of potential specs or hardware design. There was a major leak a while back that detailed Microsoft’s gameplan for Xbox in the coming years. According to those documents, the next Xbox would be more of a media center that catered to all types of entertainment.

Regardless, the job posting proves that Microsoft is already working on the next generation of their wildly popular Xbox console. Considering that the Xbox 360 is already seven-years-old, it definitely needs an upgrade. I wouldn’t be too surprised if Microsoft announced that upgrade later this year to deflate the launch of the Wii U.