Hardware prices are, as we all know, skyrocketing, and despite hopes earlier this year that the AI craze was slowing down, we’re still seeing RAM and storage reach costs not seen since those two techs were in their infancy during the Cold War. By the looks of it, things only stand to get worse, and that does not bode well for Sony and Microsoft, who are eager to release the new generation of consoles in 2027 or 2028.
But according to Wccftech, the cost of producing the RAM and SSDs for PlayStation 6 alone has reached around $680, which, combined with the rest of its proprietary custom-made state-of-the-art hardware, would easily push its production costs well above $1000. This figure does not include packaging, shipping, retailer cuts, VAT and other taxes, imports, and so many other logistical nightmares that would make this console sell for closer to $2000.
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As Wccftech writes, citing leaker KeplerL2, Sony was designing SoCs (the chips) when gDDR7 memory was expected to cost about $3 per GB, but nowadays that price is about seven times higher, between $20 and $23 per GB. Yeah, this console is not getting made in bulk, I can tell you that much.
Both Sony and Microsoft have seen a substantial decline in total units sold over the last year or so, following a couple of price hikes that saw the PS5 Pro almost crack the $1000 threshold. While Sony is still clocking in the same amount of money due to the price increases, the decline is bound to start dipping into unprofitable margins again at some point soon, given how fast AI keeps eating up all the supplies.
Whether the next console will retail at a ludicrous price is unclear, since Sony could decide to sell it at a loss and make up for it through other means, such as a more expensive but more alluring PS Plus subscription, more expensive games on its store, and so on.
Whichever way you cut it, though, we are definitely NOT in for a fun ride. But at least we can watch cats perform karate chops and… le laugh!
