Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden says Sony should focus on a cheaper console rather than a premium successor, arguing that the company needs a PS5 for $300 instead of a PS6 for $1,200. His comments come as console prices have risen sharply and the hardware market shows signs of weakness.
Layden said innovation in gaming hardware should mean lower costs for players, not simply more processing power. In his view, the current silicon and operating system are already sufficient for games, so there is little need to push the price of the next generation upward. He framed the argument around accessibility, suggesting that a lower-priced machine would widen the audience rather than leave it to a smaller group of buyers willing to pay a premium.
The PS5 debuted in 2020 at $499 for the disc version and $399 for the Digital Edition. Prices have since moved considerably higher. The base model now sells for $649, the Digital Edition for $599, and the PS5 Pro for $899. Sony has blamed global economic pressures for those increases, and the company has not presented the changes as a temporary measure. The gap between the launch prices and today's prices is the core of Layden's concern: the console that once served as the entry point for millions of players has become a substantially larger purchase.
The weakness Layden points to is not confined to Sony. Console sales are reportedly declining across Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, the three companies that dominate the console market. For platform holders, slowing hardware sales can reduce the number of players buying into a platform, which in turn affects the size of the audience that publishers and developers can reach. That dynamic gives weight to the argument that a lower-priced machine could help restore momentum.
Sony has not confirmed a launch date or price for its next console. In May, the company said it was still deciding when the successor would arrive. A February report suggested the launch could be pushed to 2028 or 2029. A leaker has estimated that memory and storage components alone could cost as much as $680, a figure that helps explain concern about the price of future hardware, though it remains an unverified estimate. An October patent also points to Sony working on frame generation technology, but the patent does not confirm any product plans.
For now, the PS6's price and timing remain unconfirmed. Layden's argument puts a clear marker in the debate over whether the next generation of consoles should chase higher performance at higher cost or return to the lower price points that once helped drive mass adoption. Whether Sony follows that path will likely shape how many households can afford to enter the platform in the years ahead.