Sony has revealed that it has not yet decided on a launch time for the PlayStation 6 console, nor how much it will cost at retail, due to the impact of rising memory costs and other economic factors. The next-generation console has not yet even been officially revealed, but already we can see global events affect PlayStation’s decision-making process regarding the release of the machine.
Earlier today, Sony hosted its annual corporate strategy and earnings call, which was followed by a Q&A session for investors. During the call, Sony president and CEO Hiroki Totoki responded to one caller, who asked how the on-going memory crisis is affecting the company’s approach to its next-generation machine. Totoki replied, via translator, that the company hasn’t yet decided when it’s going to release the PlayStation 6, nor what the final retail price of the unit will be.
Totoki went on to explain that as the price of memory increases, the cost of the BoM (Bill of Materials) and the cost of manufacturing also increases, resulting in a potential knock-on effect to the console manufacturing process. Per VGC – who first reported the CEO’s below quotes – Totoki explained that, for the rest of 2026, Sony has acquired the necessary volume of materials it needs and has “to a certain extent agreed on the price itself”.
“We have not yet decided on at what timing we will launch the new console, or at what prices,” Totoki said. “So we would like to really observe and follow the situation. Looking at the current circumstances, the memory price is also expected to be very high FY 2027, because there will still be a shortage of supply. So under that assumption, we must think carefully what we will do.”
We’ve already heard Valve sound the warning bell on similar matters, so it’s interesting to see Sony noting the same bottlenecks for its upcoming products, too. As a result of this unprecedented demand for memory – driven by the hunger for AI datacenters and speculation around artificial intelligence – Totoki hinted that Sony is considering other ways of reducing costs at Sony, and revealed that PlayStation has even debated changing business models to better market and sell the PS6.
“We would like to think about various simulations, including changing business models to come up with the best solution and strategy,” he said. Yes, that’s very vague; there’s no current indication what that could mean for consumers.
It seems a lot of people have opinions on the PlayStation 6; last year, ex-PlayStation exec Shuhei Yoshida suggested Sony “cannot do the same thing it has been doing” over the past few years if it wants to succeed in the current marketplace. Elsewhere, PS5 system architect Mark Cerny and AMD senior vice president Jack Huynh presented a video in 2025, hinting at the new technology we can probably expect to see in the PlayStation 6. For now, though, nothing about the upcoming console is confirmed. At least we’ll learn more about Xbox’s mysterious Project Helix in the coming months.
