The PlayStation 6 is “progressing as scheduled,” according to Sony. The console has been an open secret for some time, and this is the most direct statement the company has made about it so far.
Speaking during Sony's latest quarterly financial results, CFO Lin Tao said the company intends to make “solid progress” toward the PlayStation 6 over the next fiscal year. Sony gave no release date and no price, but the PS6 now officially sits on the company’s road map.
“Looking ahead to the next fiscal year, we aim to continue to enhance user engagement and further strengthen monetisation through the release of strong titles and the expansion of our service,” Tao said. “We also intend to make solid progress in preparing for the next-generation platform.”
Sony is investing in the PS6 but won’t give a figure
Tao also referred to “investment in the new platform,” saying Sony will “make the necessary investments” to make the PlayStation 6 a success.
“We have to support the soundness of our platform and think about how rationally we can invest in that platform. We will announce that at an appropriate time in the future,” Tao said.
None of this pins down a launch date, and nobody outside Sony has one yet. The common expectation is a 2028 release, and Tao’s comments don’t conflict with it.
The PlayStation 5 generation is now officially heading toward its end. Many players would likely describe it as a disappointing run with a thin games lineup. It did produce Astro Bot, which counts for a lot.
Expect a high price
Sony hasn’t announced what the PS6 will cost, and a cheap launch looks unlikely. Both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X have risen in price since their 2020 launches, and the next generation appears likely to follow the same path.
Some recent reports have the PlayStation 6 at $1,000 or higher. Those figures come from hardware leaker KeplerL2, who originally claimed the PS6 would sell for about $699.99. That was a subsidized price based on a $760 production cost, and those numbers now look outdated.
KeplerL2 has since said the cost of building a PS6 has risen to $960, driven by AI companies pushing component prices up. A few weeks ago, in a forum post, KeplerL2 wrote that “RAM + NAND alone is over $680.”
Sony has also reportedly said it doesn’t intend to be “selling hardware at significant losses.” Combined with a $960 build cost, that suggests an expensive console generation.
Start saving for Joel and Peter
For PlayStation players, the cost that matters most is what they’ll pay to play The Last of Us Part 3 and Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 once those games arrive. How many years that will take is anyone’s guess, so putting money aside now is a reasonable plan.