It’s kind of hard to believe, but the PlayStation 5 is almost a 6-year-old console. Though the system’s 6th anniversary hasn’t come and gone just yet, rumours about its successor have already started to pop up on the internet.
The PlayStation 6, as it’s presumably called, will provide the biggest leap in technical fidelity than any PlayStation console that has come before it. However, that boost in specs will come at a cost, one that most people likely aren’t ready to accept.
If rumours are to be believed, the PlayStation 6 is going to be one of the most expensive consoles ever made, at least in the modern era. Due to the ongoing RAMpocalypse, as some pundits have called it, the manufacturing costs for the system have gone up by an immense amount. Insiders have recently reported that the console will cost a minimum of $1000 for Sony to develop.
Mind you, this is the manufacturing cost, not the cost that consumers will pay for the console. In the best case scenario, we may be looking at a $1100 to $1200 system.
The PS6 Could Cost Upwards of $1000 to Make, According to Rumours
If you were thinking that Sony would be willing to lose hundreds of dollars on each console sold, then you’re probably mistaken. The company recently stated to investors that it has no interest in selling each of its consoles at significant losses. If that’s the case, then we can’t expect the PS6 to be less than $1000.
The problem with all this, and arguably with the gaming industry as a whole, is that hardware is getting too expensive for people to afford. Price increases have been occurring rampantly, all while people are struggling to afford even the most basic goods in their daily lives.
Microsoft just raised the prices of its Xbox Series X/S systems earlier this month, while Nintendo announced a price hike for the Switch 2 a few months ago. Even Sony hasn’t been immune to these price spikes, as the company has repeatedly increased the price of the PS5 since the start of this generation.
Due to the ongoing AI bubble, as well as the fact that companies are paying record highs for memory chips, analysts expect the price of hardware to continue to increase in the coming years. Executives at Lenovo, for example, have warned that the insane cost of RAM these days will mark the new normal for hardware going forward. In other words, even if the AI bubble pops, the prices of memory aren’t going to go down anytime soon, if ever.
RAM Prices May Make it Hard for the PS6 to Sell Well
Assuming such a scenario is accurate, how exactly can PlayStation afford to sell its next-generation console at such a potentially high price? Pardon me for being a bit skeptical, but I find it difficult to imagine that people will rush out in droves to buy a $1000+ console, especially when they probably already own PS5s.
The issues that Sony will have with the PS6 are twofold. Firstly, the company has an uphill battle ahead of it to convince customers to buy such an expensive console, along with the games available on it. If the PS6 sells only around 40 to 50 million units in its lifetime, due to its incredibly high price tag, then it will be difficult for Sony to make exclusive games for the system. After all, how many of those ~50 million people would be willing to buy every game Sony puts out?
Sony is already struggling to sell some of its titles, such as Saros, on a platform with nearly 100 million users (the PS5), so it’s likely that these titles would struggle even more on a system with a considerably smaller install base.
Stylized Games Are on the Rise, Making the Power of the PS6 Unimportant
The second problem that Sony has to contend with is to provide a notable distinction between the PS5 and the PS6. The graphics and technical capabilities of video games have kind of plateaued in the last few years, owing in part to a greater focus from developers on stylistic visuals rather than purely realistic graphics.
When you have stylized games like Hollow Knight: Silksong, Palworld, and Fortnite selling millions of copies and/or having millions of players, do realistic graphics really matter that much anymore? Furthermore, how do you make titles that take full advantage of the specs of the PS6, without compromising on quality?
Frankly, when the PS5 already has games that look outright amazing, such as the upcoming Marvel’s Wolverine and Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, I find it hard to see how a next-gen, PS6-only title could truly top them from a graphical standpoint. Will Sony only be able to make PS6 exclusives by arbitrarily gatekeeping them off PS5 systems, rather than pushing the PS6’s hardware to its limits? That’s a question that I don’t think anyone has the answer to yet.
There was a time when the next-generation of video game consoles was all people cared about. But these days? Next-gen seems like it will be more of a footnote in gaming history rather than a game-changing event like it was in decades past.
