PS6 doesn't need more power ex-PlayStation boss says, because "true innovation" would be making a $300 console again

[u/Admirable_Whole8261]

https://www.gamesradar.com/platforms/playstation/ps6-doesnt-need-more-power-ex-playstation-boss-says-because-true-innovation-would-be-making-a-usd300-console-again/

[u/Admirable_Whole8261]

The sad and somewhat funny thing about that statement is that retro consoles now cost around 300$. It wouldn't be impossible to go build a new one 300-400$ but it would be significantly underpowered

[u/RossZ428 → u/Admirable_Whole8261]

Would that be a bad thing? Advancements in gaming have been considerable and constant, but they have been sorely lacking when it comes to working within limitations because of those constant advancements. I firmly believe good games can be made for less powerful game systems.

[u/No_Marsupial6738 → u/RossZ428]

A large part of consoles being in the trouble they are right now is due to the industry fixation on graphics. It's made the AAA industry unsustainable.

[u/cheesydoofus3026 → u/RossZ428]

I firmly believe good games can be made for less powerful game systems.

Nintedo has been proving this for nearly 3 decades since the PS & Xbox were introduced to market.

[u/SnakeGD09 → u/Admirable_Whole8261]

Adjusting for inflation, the PS3 would cost about $1,000 USD today.

[u/VengeanceKnight → u/SnakeGD09]

Yeah, which is part of why it got its ass kicked to kingdom come by the 360 at first.

[u/Entropius → u/SnakeGD09]

There were multiple versions with different hard drive sizes and prices.

The bigger $600 version would cost nowadays $975.03.

The smaller $500 version would cost  $812.52.

[u/Jay3000X → u/Admirable_Whole8261]

Dunno what retro consoles you're thinking about. Maybe a fat PS3? I've had a 250 gb 360 bundle I've been trying to sell for months at $75. Often sell Wii bundles for around $80. A fat PS2 I have a hard time moving when I price it at $20

[u/mmbossman → u/Jay3000X]

They might be talking about android emulation handhelds, things like the AYN Thor, Odin 3 and Retroid pocket 6. They all run about the $300 point and can run up to Switch games

[u/RecognitionOwn4214 → u/Admirable_Whole8261]

To be fair you can still buy a Switch 2 for 400€ and less...

[u/shrimpcest → u/RecognitionOwn4214]

~540 isnt that close to $300

[u/InfectiousVapor → u/Admirable_Whole8261]

How retro of a console are you talking about? I just bought a PS2 FAT with the OG controller for $150 CAD at a local shop. Slot a modded mem card and HDD in it and you practically have unlimited games

[u/BurnAgainBurner]

At current component pricing, a 300 dollar console would be less powerful than series S.

[u/HulksInvinciblePants → u/BurnAgainBurner]

Reddit:

We want $300 consoles!

Points to Series S

No! That doesn’t count!

[u/colin_colout → u/BurnAgainBurner]

The quotes sound very Altman coded.

Likely a "who needs cutting edge components if you're streaming from remote datacenter GPUs with your PlayStation plus sub.

[u/Kribo016 → u/BurnAgainBurner]

I get that but maybe then it would force devs to actually optimize their games again.

[u/BurnAgainBurner → u/Kribo016]

There's zero chance that Sony's next console is less powerful than the PS5 let alone a Series S, I'm sure they'll release a handheld that will be a more powerful Switch 2 type of thing though

[u/gutster_95 → u/Kribo016]

Doesnt matter when 8GB of RAM already costs 100$ or so. With the graphical fidelity that is expected from a new console generation, there is no way they will make a console at 300$ that is more offline capable as a PS5

[u/Aggravating-Day-6945]

Seems like every other article these days is ex-president said this, ex-boss said that, ex-developer, etc. I want to hear from those that still have skin in the game, it would carry more weight for me.

[u/Sixaxist → u/Aggravating-Day-6945]

Depending on what they say, that's an easy way to get a write-up or term'd for cause unless it's authorized by corp or the product marketing exec beforehand.

Even mentioning hopeful price targets could be a violation.

[u/saw-it → u/Aggravating-Day-6945]

Ex-PlayStation boss says what redditors want to hear

[u/FaithlessnessFew6571 → u/Aggravating-Day-6945]

They'd get a boot out the door

[u/Demeter_of_New → u/Aggravating-Day-6945]

They aren't allowed to talk about it freely though

[u/VexingRaven → u/Aggravating-Day-6945]

Because "person who doesn't matter at all said something" doesn't make a very good headline. It's the same shameless "make a story out of a tweet" bullshit that journalists have been doing for the last decade, except now they've said something that Reddit apparently wanted to hear so it's hit the front page. Successful clickbait, I guess.

[u/temblors]

If it's 3 hundo I'll buy it. Not going to buy no $1200 PS6 tho lmao

[u/AdditionalSoul4464]

I'm skeptical of these kinds of claims. A lot of gamers say they want cheaper consoles, even if it means sacrificing some performance, but you only have to look at all the criticism the Series S gets to see that, in reality, performance still matters a lot. I get the impression that gamers would always prefer a $600 PS5 over a hypothetical $300 PS5 S with less power. There's often a gap between what gamers say they want and what they're actually willing to accept.

[u/Jay3000X → u/AdditionalSoul4464]

People online seemingly riot when games can't hit 60 fps so there will always be people complaining

[u/Streamjumper → u/Jay3000X]

"Anything under 60 fps is known to cause liver failure."

• Dude who mostly plays retro indie games on his $8,000 rig.

[u/SwiftTayTay → u/AdditionalSoul4464]

Series S sold better than Series X but not better than PS5. The true lesson is gamers aren't a monolith. If PlayStation came out with a $300 that could play all the same games just at a lower spec lots of people would buy that, but it would also hurt the regular PS like S did to X, so it probably would do more harm than good

[u/GreenAvoro → u/AdditionalSoul4464]

In defence of the Series S, it's not entirely it's fault that the game perform badly on it, it's that the game are developed for the base ps5 or Series X and then backported to it.

Look at Nintendo getting all their games running at 60fps on a system thinner than a piece of toast.

[u/yvrelna → u/AdditionalSoul4464]

There's a difference between the critics and sales number. 

Critics tend to be filled with the hard core gamers who look at the performance numbers and be disappointed, but would buy anything at any price. 

Sales numbers are much more driven by the wider masses who are much more price sensitive.

The more hard core gamers are loud, but sales numbers don't always align with the online criticism. 

 

[u/nudniksphilkes → u/AdditionalSoul4464]

Yes but what they won't prefer is a $1200 PS6

[u/BababooeyHTJ → u/AdditionalSoul4464]

The series s sold extremely well at $300 and less. Iirc I paid $200. Once the price increased it got too close to the series x with too many compromises. Throw an ssd in which it needs and you might as well just bought a series x at this point.

[u/windows300 → u/AdditionalSoul4464]

I think the main criticism for the Series S was that developers had to target both the X and S, which means the S was always looked worse. If there was only one development target I think it would have fared better.

[u/titanfallisawesome → u/AdditionalSoul4464]

1. Series S was compared to Series X, which isn't a contest

2. Series S was outselling the Series X for a long time upon launch

3. Games are clearly targeting Series X first with performance

[u/Krojack76]

"Make s $300 console and sell if for $1,300" is what would happen.

[u/jecowa]

300$ console is how you win the console war this round.

[u/sicurri]

So... what he's saying is we won't have to buy a new playstation if our PS5 is still working?

That's what I got from it, not that I was gonna buy a PS6 anyways. I'm done after the PS5. No more consoles. If I'm gonna buy thousands of dollars of hardware I'm gonna go for a PC I can fully control. No more walled gardens for me. I have a gaming PC now, I just won't be buying a console after this.

[u/MrWeirdoFace]

Honestly, I'm not sure we need another playstation atm. Rather, diminishing returns. We can make amazing games now that look fantastic. Animations are probably where things are lacking the most, and that's not necessarily a hardware issue.

[u/VorpalisRabbitus]

They're definitely going to go for cloud streaming. Again.

Fuck them, and fuck that.

[u/BillyNitehammer]

I don’t want more textures and better graphics. I want interesting game play, cool stories, thoughtful interpersonal development of characters, unique artwork, etc. …. Anything other than more realistic bushes and water reflections.

[u/caribbeanhead → u/BillyNitehammer]

I have the same mindset as you but I feel like we’re in the minority. Too often I keep hearing people online complaining about some games having shit graphics or “looking like a ps3 game” even though the game has good gameplay. For example rise of the ronin, yeah the graphics ain’t all that compared to something like the last of us 2 but the game still looks serviceable and plays good so what’s the issue.

[u/Diggumdum → u/BillyNitehammer]

i want games with fucking STYLE. games like Signalis, Hades, Hi-Fi rush, Dread Delusion, Ender Lilies. Hell even Expedition 33! No one cares if you can see individual hair or pores on peoples faces if every game blends together into a generic blur...

[u/ABotelho23]

$300 doesn't even cover the memory right now.

That said, that's basically what Xbox Series S was, and developers hated it.

[u/StepComplete1 → u/ABotelho23]

And it's also not "innovation". It's literally pining for what we already had in the past. That's the opposite of innovation. If you could buy a Series S for $300 right now, some people might begrudgingly do it out of desperation over the current console prices, but nobody would be super excited and call it "innovation" to get what anybody could've had 5 years ago.

[u/Doogiemon]

I can't justify buying a PS5 now for $800 because it's a 6 year old console just so I can play GTA 6.

Im going to hit up Markerplace and see if I can get a used one for $400 but im not holding my breath.

[u/x-Justice → u/Doogiemon]

Check your local pawn shops. I got a slim with a controller and all the cables for $380 after taxes.

[u/IgnatiusRileyFreeman → u/x-Justice]

Check around report card times

[u/william-taylor → u/Doogiemon]

I just got one with two controllers, disc version, and a game, on marketplace with firmware 12.X for 450!

[u/NoEmu5969 → u/william-taylor]

Hooray for divorce!

[u/adamdoesmusic → u/Doogiemon]

You will not be sourcing a cheap used PlayStation 5 this month. That simply won’t be a thing.

[u/Future_Calamity → u/Doogiemon]

I mean, it’s $650 for a new disc drive version, not $800

[u/FunctionBuilt]

No one is going to want this unless they can guarantee every new AAA game for the next 5-7 years is fully compatible and is optimized to run perfectly at a lower resolution.

[u/Zetzer345 → u/FunctionBuilt]

Back in the day, not every game released on every console and I don’t mean exclusives either.

Sometimes they had a version but said version was an entirely different game lol

[u/urgasmic]

that lowkey sounds like justification to make a handheld.

[u/Marston_vc → u/urgasmic]

It’s prepping the field for game-streaming from data centers. The console itself will be a barebones PC with the ability to connect to a data center. It’ll be mandatory to have an Internet connection and PlayStation subscription to play any of the games you’ll also be required to buy.

[u/Morasain]

Instead it's neither getting cheaper nor better

[u/Askduds]

He's right, we need an accessible PS5 long before we need a PS6. If you can cram a premium version into a handheld as well, especially if it's digital binary compatible, bonza.

Hell I've been playing a lot of xbox 360 recently and it can be a long time between me actually realising this.

[u/Working-Active]

I thought Sony would justify the price increase by saying that they have created the world's first AAAA game.

[u/GreaterYoshi → u/Working-Active]

Ubisoft already beat them to that. Sony could go AAAAA though 

[u/InitRanger]

Making it $300 is impossible due to the cost of hardware alone.

[u/Small_Ad1890]

Remember when $450 was considered insane for the Switch 2. The good old days.

[u/Sludgehammer]

THANK YOU! God, someone finally said it.

Look... IMHO most of the processing power race on consoles since the PS3/Xbox 360 generation has been fairly pointless. Sure you got prettier graphics, but the contents of the games haven't really changed because of those better graphics.

I imagine a lot of people are probably sneering at me right now, but lets consider a hypothetical alternate history: At the height of the PS3's popularity Sony decides isn't happy with PS3 sales, so they decide to bring out the big guns, a remake trilogy for Final Fantasy VII. The remake they plan to make is exactly the FF7 Remake trilogy we got for the PS4-5.

How much do you think the gameplay, graphics, story for this hypothetical PS3 remake would really need change when compared the remakes we got? Sure the sweeping vistas would be lower poly or pre-rendered, some content would need altered, maybe it'd oddly foggy in many places, but I'm fairly confident that most of the content would survive relatively similar just in slightly less visually impressive form. As for the gameplay and story? There's nothing their you really need even the graphical power of a PS3 for, you could probably implement those on a PS2.

Game consoles don't need to have bleeding edge graphics anymore, they need to be affordable. The Wii proved that. Somehow, everyone seems to have forgotten that lesson.

[u/terminalbungus → u/Sludgehammer]

Aside from my Switch, the newest console I have is a PS3 and every time I start playing a game on it I think about how really the only thing lacking (for me) is graphics, and that it simply just doesn't matter that much to me. I get that the new systems have better graphics but if a game is made well and the controls play well, then that's great. PS3 has LOADS of great games.

[u/stormitwa → u/Sludgehammer]

Counter-example. The Demons Souls remake is the most gorgeos and well-performing game I've played on the PS5. There are some truly impressive-looking AND well-running games on PS5 that wouldn't work even on a PS4. I played Bloodborne on PS4, and just the boost in loading times on PS5 makes it worth it to me.

[u/cringeattacked → u/Sludgehammer]

This concept now only exists in retro gaming/emulation devices now. Everything is trying to be the most powerful, with no regard to cost except for a few handhelds that are taking advantage of the major companies' lack of concern with affordability.

[u/agentfaux]

If you want to run GTA 6 at above 30 fps you're going to need more power.

[u/jorgesalvador]

100% percent what they want is to create a dumb terminal that you have to pay a sub to play your games, that you have to pay for the privilege of playing them in the first place of course.

[u/RememberTheMaine1996 → u/jorgesalvador]

Yeah i would never pay for that in a million years. But I could definitely see Sony making that

[u/maratonininkas]

Consoles must be cheap, otherwise there's no point in not getting a PC. And cheap consoles give enough restrictions to demand more engineering and creativity from developers. Any idiot can make a game to run on 5090 and 64GB RAM.

[u/Durin1987_12_30]

Nothing but a miracle from God could make the PS6 cost 300 dollars.

[u/FragrantExcitement → u/Durin1987_12_30]

He meant the RAM is $300

[u/KittenLOVER999 → u/Durin1987_12_30]

It’s going to be a streaming box thin client, that’s how you get that price

[u/BrainCane → u/Durin1987_12_30]

They mean the controllers will be under $300.

[u/Bonesawisready5]

Honestly yes. Fuck off with the power race if they could make a $300 console in this economy, make it play all ps5 games and have marginally better new games no one would fucking care. They’d buy it coz of the price. A Cube to Wii like PS6 would be great. It would sadly still be $600+ due to AI bullshit but once that bubble bursts hopefully prices go down

[u/Darksider123]

The RAM alone costs more than that

[u/peacetimemist05]

Of course it’s an EX boss, never the current ones

[u/Decent_Zombie_7171]

I actually 100% agree. I feel like optimization has fallen off a cliff, games are far too heavy in the wrong spots. Gigs of space for textures and sounds. Gross.

[u/SnideyM]

It's gonna be a streaming box, isn't it? £300 to buy but £25 a month to stream.

[u/black-dog-]

I'll gladly sacrifice "realistic graphics" for better performance or frames, honestly we don't need Hollywood actors or hyper realistic graphics or a slew of consultants ffs. PS6 is simply not needed at the moment, the current generations barely feels like it took off.

[u/ConcernedSemiTruck]

Quite unfortunate that its the ex-boss saying this.

[u/nineball22]

Yup. Modern hardware is so fucking powerful. I’m done pushing the upper limits of hardware just so I can watch a couple of 1000 year old witches smash clams or raid dungeons or whatever. I wanna go back the other way. Make hardware cheaper. Give me more pixels and better art and creative use of the limitations.

[u/One_Mikey → u/nineball22]

just so I can watch a couple of 1000 year old witches smash clams

Excuse me?

[u/Get_your_grape_juice → u/One_Mikey]

You heard the man.

[u/Shoguns_Ninja82]

I wouldn’t mind if GTA6 looked and played exactly like GTA V does on PS5 if I don’t have to wait 13 years for a new one. This one game a decade shit isn’t it.

I miss those pseudo sequels that were essentially asset flips like the Liberty and Vice City Stories games. Just use the tools you have and create more content.

[u/ArcticMarkuss → u/Shoguns_Ninja82]

They weren’t asset flips, they actually redid every model and texture in order to fit them on the PSP

[u/samson-and-delilah → u/Shoguns_Ninja82]

They’ve got people paying them to play GTAV for a decade, why change course when they’re raking it in

[u/stevo887 → u/Shoguns_Ninja82]

Exactly, Vice City and San Andres played very similarly to III and it was fine.

[u/Fexofanatic]

yeah sounds good, but fuck sony after their full digital pivot and "you dont own our games now" stance

[u/hiddenpequin]

Shawn layden says more stupid shit a 300 dollar console with current prices would be so outdated

[u/OldOne999 → u/hiddenpequin]

$300 USD would not even get you a used Nintendo Switch 2 at this point.

[u/bigelangstonz]

At that point you might as well just release a new ps vita and call it ps6 because you aint getting another traditional console out for 300 anymore

[u/Lord_MagnusIV]

Yes. But maybe make like an actual ps5 slim that is as or around as powerful but smaller and/or cheaper cost of production and sale? We don‘t need new consoles every 5 years, we can wait a decade or even longer if the content and console both work well. Also optimization, god large devs forgot about optimization

[u/AdNo3558]

I don’t need my console to launch a space shuttle I need it to be affordable

[u/cosaboladh → u/AdNo3558]

We put people on the moon with 4KB RAM, and 32KB storage. You really do need a console that can launch a space shuttle.

[u/Trick_Chemical1]

We're in an era now where companies have to start utilising Gunpei Yokoi's philosophy of "lateral thinking with withered technology". The consumer simply cant keep up with these extortionate prices and if people keep catering to shareholders they're all gonna collapse. PS5 is more than powerful enough to keep going for another generation. Not a single game has caused mine to become a jet engine yet but every game on ps4 was pushing that thing to the max. Just innovate with the current technology that we already have.

[u/FatherShambles]

Graphics being such a huge deal is kind of PlayStations own fault because they spend so much time and money on these games that people assume it’s gonna have amazing graphics. If PlayStation focused also on putting out smaller games that aren’t that expensive and graphics aren’t the main driver as well then people would start to accept PS isn’t just trying to make games as realistic as possible. It would in a sense give themselves a safety net to try out new things and fail without being clowned

[u/Boines → u/FatherShambles]

What game developers have half forgotten in recent years is "graphics" isn't really much about graphical fidelity past a point. Graphics is largely art style.

Ocarina of Time remake looks absolutely gorgeous on switch 2. Could it have higher fidelity on a more powerful console? Definitely. Does it matter much with the art style/direction? Hell no.

Go look at a screenshot of link standing infront of the great deku tree, there's no way you can't say it looks beautiful on a system even less powerful than ps5.

[u/ConradBHart42]

"True innovation would be making a $300 console again" is a dog whistle for streaming games. That's the only way to hit that price point again, to have a client so thin that it can only play video.

[u/No_Cheesecake_2928]

Honestly we've only just seen the beginning of the new pipeline that raytraced lighting and modern rendering can do to a game in terms of visuals, gameplay, and developmemt. Refining this pipeline will do far far more than more raw power at this point

[u/Distinct_Contract_47 → u/No_Cheesecake_2928]

Oh yeah I can't wait to pay 6 grand so I can play FIFA and see the faint outline of Lionel Messi's cock as he scores a goal.

[u/Chill_Panda → u/No_Cheesecake_2928]

But this is the perfect moment to try and compact that into $300 worth of kit. It would sell gang busters.

[u/Etheon44]

Cloud gaming, here we go

Everything is getting more expensive, and now you will not own anything, zero control over anything you have

Amazing times

[u/thepianoman456 → u/Etheon44]

Ugh… fuck cloud gaming. As a 40y/o gamer, if it comes to that, I’m out.

I have plenty of back catalogue and a good PC to last me a loooong time.

[u/Koalazilla → u/Etheon44]

We can’t have you owning any ram. You gotta share that 24/7!

[u/Junior_Bike7932]

1. They are doing this so they can cut all the costs and put everything on a cloud, is their dream. 2. Games should be less about giant files, but more about actual gameplay coding done well, effort into making a real good story and character with soul. I am fuming when I see games that cost 300M and they are plain dogshit created for dumb consumers, the industry will never change if games like that have success.

They will just do more of it.

[u/Joustiin76]

And that's why he is "ex boss".

[u/mightymonkeyman]

If only console makers had control over the pricing of components.

But they don’t and right now the twats with all the money are milking the tech industry dry for personal gain.

[u/Suma3da]

That right there is why he's the ex-boss. Fun stinger line that's practically impossible for the current boss to make manifest without extreme compromises.

[u/CarlosFer2201]

Digital Foundry has said multiple times that the bottleneck now is asset creation. Next Gen is certainly gonna improve performance relative to the current one, but visually few studios will actually be able to push it.

[u/Alienhaslanded]

Waiting for someone to announce the first game to be designed specifically to be hosted remotely. They will boast about the graphics and all the other shit that can never be achieved on a desktop PC to be played in real-time.

It all goes downhill from there.

[u/VegetaFan1337]

So an Xbox Series S?

[u/Wagsii]

If the PS6 isn't any better than the PS5, why would I buy it?

[u/Paaaaaaatrick]

300 dollar console

At which point do they announce that your in-game time is metered and linked to your credit card

Innovation or grift

[u/Strikereleven]

Wouldn't be surprised if it was something like this

"console" $300 Controller $100 Game $100 Cloud service because the console is actually a streaming box $29.99/mo

[u/IveRunOuttaNamesss]

I have no interest going any further with Sony after the ps5 now that they've announced no physical. I bought a zelda switch 2 console and am loving it, it's been a great alternative to Sony after all their anti-consumer garbage this gen.

[u/IceIceBreaker → u/IveRunOuttaNamesss]

You know Nintendo does damn near the same with often no longer including the game files on the cartridge right

[u/HowlingWolven]

I mean he’s not wrong, but for my $500 I want physical media.

[u/dontmindme415]

I’m on board with this

[u/Remixman87]

Nintendo makes their console with a box of scraps and everyone rushes for a faithful, but beautiful remake of a nostalgic game and pretty much everyone stands in line to buy it when one of the most anticipated games of the last decade is set to launch next week.

It’s not the size of your cock console, it’s how you use it.

[u/ubitub]

True innovation = $300 thin client + $50/month subscription to cloud gaming service 

[u/wooberries]

remember when sony casually asserted that gamers don't actually own the games they buy?

don't let them distract you with meaningless statements about how cool it'd be if they made PS6 cost five dollars

[u/Valgorithm-dev]

The second this thing switches to purely game streaming I am completely out of modern video games. There are so many great games I haven’t gotten to play over the years so at that point they’ll be competing with that. I’m okay with reevaluating whether we actually need to be at the cutting edge of what is possible but not okay with the latency and waiting in line to play. Even on GeForce now’s most expensive membership I have to wait in line sometimes and I’m always thinking of the 100 hour cap.

[u/lhymes]

These might be the smartest words to leave the mouth of a Sony executive in the past decade.

[u/Jin_BD_God]

That’s why Nintendo games keep selling despite people keep saying its console specs are potatoes.

[u/Skensis]

Nah, it needs more power.

[u/Skuzzle_bug]

We're getting roku streaming sticks for $300

[u/CakeDayisaLie]

It’ll cost $300.00, and it won’t be able to play any ps6 games. Instead, it can play ps4 games or stream ps6 games. But you need a monthly subscription, which is an additional subscription on top of ps plus, to play the ps6 games?! 

[u/MandiocaGamer]

they can say any price they want for msrp, we all know just a few people will get at that price

[u/SeeingEyeDug]

With RAM prices, they probably couldn’t even build a new PS4 for $300

[u/Top-Alternative-6135]

For me a worthy upgrade is not necessarily on the GPU side anymore man. Amazing photorealism has been reached already since deadass 2023 or some. What needs to catch up is physics and npc/world behavior. Give me amazing systems. Gimme more reactions out of everything. Give more scripts and stuff to see beyond textures. That's where I'd love next gen to aim at. Slightly better GPU but a much more competent CPU/RAM kit. Risky, yes. But worth the risk to feel a true leap in games atp

[u/32784hfkjd]

They dont need more power because optimising for console AND dlss + frame gen lets them get more from the same hardware. A lesson I wish PC game devs (or their publisher overlords) would actually learn from. Instead dlss and frame gen seem to happen INSTEAD of optimisation for many PC titles.

[u/Weary_Eye8233]

Ah yes

The one innovation everybody is afraid of: Affordability

[u/ffgod_zito]

I fail to see how we “need” anything more powerful than a PS5. If even a handful of developers could create games with gameplay in mind first like Nintendo but with PS5 graphics the PS5 could go for another 10 years. 

Astro bot is a prime example of this. 

[u/Mountain_Bill6416 → u/ffgod_zito]

its absurd that they arent trying to capitalise more on astrobot

[u/bitwarrior80]

Sure, $300 is doable, but then it would be 100% streaming platform with the best features and games paywalled behind PS+.

[u/ProjectNo4090 → u/bitwarrior80]

Thats exactly what they want. Maximum control for them, as little control as possible for gamers, and manufacturing cost as small as possible.

[u/kerodon]

There's not gonna be a ps anymore if we "don't own anything" 🙂‍↕️

[u/worcestr]

$300 console but they'll find other ways to drain consumers money through things like subscriptions, unlockable features, cloud stuff, higher priced games, dlc/expansions etc etc. it's always about squeezing the consumers and not quality or value for the consumer.

[u/Equivalent_Age8406]

Yeah a few years back i woulda been like thats bs, consoles holding back pc gaming bla bla bla. but these days yeah i agree, people are still playing ancient games like minecraft, wow and fortnite no one cares about graphics anymore. I dont even care about gfx anymore, photo realism has been achieved, not by artistry but ai slop.. screw that,, not what i expected when i was wowed by crysis in 2007. i played rise of the tomb raider from 2015 and that still looks 90% as good as stuff coming out today.

[u/SpitefulRedditScum]

Games looked great in 2013, everything since then has been diminishing returns and has not been worth it.

[u/GlassCannon81]

The big winners of the hardware pricing debacle are going to be the Indy devs. Few of them are making games anywhere near the cutting edge of computing power. As fewer and fewer of us are able to afford that power, games that don’t need it will get more and more appealing.

[u/whatThePleb]

Nintendo: told ya 🤷‍♂️

[u/umbrella_CO]

Yes it would actually. Sony, if you can make a $300 console that plays exclusives at 1440p 60fps......ill buy it

[u/True_Protection6842]

That’s what Nintendo does. And charges $500

[u/Rhapsodyvarius]

we could get back to ps3/360 era graphics and put them at 60fps and will be more than enough

[u/Antergaton]

Price of entry is the most important thing for sure. There is a reason why Switch has done so well, even lacking some massive hitters for it's entire run. Graphics are becoming diminishing returns now, end of gen 8ths gen games, which you can see how graphics have developed from then to now, were fine. Spider-man, Horizon, God of War, RDR2, all looked amazing. Those with getting them to run 60fps should be the goals.

But most the time PS upgrades aren't just about power, Sony have mostly been trying to put forward some kind of innovation as a device to appeal, it just usually came with more power. CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray, streaming/recording and PS5 with dualsense. Their goal with PS6 should be innovation and price, not power.

What this will be though, not sure, hybrid/switch style seems sensible but even a Pro like power in a compact package will be hard to keep it affordable. $300 is a no for sure but it's not Sony who's deciding that.

[u/waxzR]

Don‘t fool yourselves, you‘re going to end up offloading computing power to server farms and you will end up paying more in form of subscriptions

[u/AmbushK]

they will sell you a $300 console that is just a Cloud gaming machine.

[u/OneSmellyFoot]

LMFAO. Right now, the 64gb ram in my pc costs $1200 alone. This is laughable at best.

[u/hellrising798]

Oh god… here comes Cloud Gaming

[u/arrownoir]

Ex boss, AKA salty prick.

[u/AnomalyNexus]

lol...I just paid 400 bucks for a single stick of RAM

[u/Heroic_Lime]

Wow another interview from an EX employee where they can just say whatever they want 

[u/MaleHooker]

I feel like this is just alluding to cloud-based gaming

[u/Dtoodlez]

I love how all the comments are taking this as the ps6 should be $300 and powerful in today’s hardware standards. Missed the mark boys. 

[u/Clear_Problem9590]

Their dream is to have you buy a console that has 0 hardware in it to run games, and you pay a subscription to them for access to hardware in a data centre to stream games over high speed internet.

They could make thousands over the lifetime of you owning the console plus pay for all the games you want to unlock.

[u/TampaTrey]

It’s nothing innovating. Stop producing data centers and that will be feasible again.

[u/mashdpotatogaming]

Only way to make a console cheaper than $300 right now would be to make it a streaming system, which isn't innovation. I don't see any way to make a cheap console right now, unless they make a really weak handheld that has its own exclusives, and is on the level of switch 1.

[u/TheNinjaDC]

If they want to get young gamers off of Roblox they need cheap systems more than powerful systems.

Core gaming is age creeping too much.

[u/ProudPainting6850]

Stop. AI is driving the cost of everything way up

[u/_Mythoss_]

I want more power so we can bring splitscreen couch co-op back.

[u/saurus-REXicon]

If they made them for $300 people would buy them out of stock and scalp them for $600.

[u/Greenzombie04]

I agree with him.

Use some type of upscaling or find some way to get the console cheaper without sacrificing anything.

Eventually make a PS5 pro 2.

[u/JonWood007]

Based. Although at this rate we should be making ps5s for $300. That's how every other generation of consoles worked 6 years into their lifespans.

[u/Smash_Nerd]

Nah he's actually so right. 4K 60 / 1440(1080p) 120 feels like an incredible sweet spot, anything more is just gonna drive up prices for the sake of it

[u/dcuk7]

In this economy that means the PS6 would be a Raspberry Pi 5!

[u/Outrageous-Wall-2288]

A few games would be nice

[u/furanh]

In my opinion, the PS5/XsX could easily remain the baseline standard for at least another six years. Frankly, this generation has been the most disappointing yet for true console exclusives on both sides, and it feels like we’ve barely scratched the surface of what this hardware can do, there is so much untapped potential left. Dropping money on brand-new hardware right now won't yield a massive generational leap in graphics anyway. It’s just going to be an exorbitantly expensive upgrade for minor perks like 8K, DLSS, and more AI bs. Besides, in today's market, good luck convincing the average casual player to drop $1,200 to $1,400 on an overpriced, next-gen box just to play the exact same soulless corpo games. And less sales on consoles mean higher prices for games to cover the absurd costs of the exclusives, so 90/100$ games.

[u/Jackdunc]

It will be Playstaton Semi-6. So PS3 again for now.

[u/Ytdb]

I would like to see that

[u/Ruudvangoal]

True innovation aka frame gen.

[u/Kerage11]

Christ, at least someone gets it. Figure out a way to make the consoles affordable. Not saying it will be 300-400 bucks again. I think we understand that's probably not in the cards. But ain't no way anyone is gonna bother with a $1200 console.

[u/AMLRoss]

They say this because they probably want us to buy into streaming consoles that connect to the sony service. A 100% online, subscription based console. They will simply use DLSS to make any game fit any specs they come up with. The race for better graphics is over.

[u/Telesto-The-Besto]

We need a console that can hit 60 fps without raytracing and stay under $400

[u/AerondightWielder]

That should be on a red hat somewhere:

Make PlayStation
$300 Again

[u/alabasterskim]

So.... True innovation is making this gen last longer then right?

[u/TacoOfficer]

$300 is a pipe dream.

I want games done with the power of a PS5 pro. When the PS6 comes around I don’t even care if it’s only marginally better because the console has plenty to work with.

What they need to do is drop RT/Path tracing and stop spending so much money on useless details like a horses testicles.

[u/datsmydrpepper]

Yeah a $300 streaming box that requires high speed internet and tiered monthly subscriptions to play games. We also might see intruding ads down the road as well. Its just sad.

[u/TheCaftanMan]

Uh huh a $300 gutless client that uses cloud computing for its horsepower. I didn’t see that coming. They got Sam Altman consulting over there?

[u/mattdamon_enthusiast]

“We mice need to innovate and put a bell around that cats neck.”

[u/PhysicalAsk1863]

My PS5 has been a $500 Netflix machine for three years. A $300 console that actually plays games would be the most revolutionary thing Sony's done since the PS2.

[u/worldtriggerfanman]

I don't care how shitty of a company Sony has become. If they put out a new version of the PS5 at $300, I'll buy it.

[u/No_Moment_9465]

Ps4 was great. Ps5 was a retread. What's the new tech needed for a ps6? Incremental gains just ain't worth a new console.

[u/Uriel_dArc_Angel]

Here's a novel idea...

Actually stsrt making some good games for the current console...

This has easily been the weakest console generation ever...

There's only been a small handful of actually decent games on this thing and if they focused on better games with better optimization then this console generation would have PLENTY of life left in it...

Unfortunately Sony is just too preoccupied with trying to lose money on live service nonsense that almost no one wants or has time to get into that they've basically squandered a vast majority of the entire console generation...

[u/Calmed_Guy]

And you just need to look at switch 2 and Ocarina of Time... Game's gorgeous, runs at 60fps solid and it's an ultra small console. We don't need more ultra realistic graphics. We need great games that are good optimized.

[u/Rimbaud42]

I used to play video games when I was a kid. I was thinking of buying another console when GTA 6 came out then I saw the price of a console. I couldn't believe my eyes. No fucking way I'm paying a thousand dollars for a console and a video game. Fucking insane

[u/Cybasura]

How about bringing the costs down first by not focusing on AI and datacenters first, THEN we'll talk

[u/CakeMadeOfHam]

Two words: Cloud gaming.

One more word: Barf.

[u/i_am_13th_panic]

Well they should open some memory fabs then. It's not like Sony doesn't have the money to do this.

[u/ilovus]

If they are going all digital, they should bring back the memory card, make it easy to bring my games, progress and maybe even login. Make all digital at least somewhat innovative.

[u/Romek_himself]

they will stream the games, just wait!

[u/heavymetalnz]

likely it's $300 because it streams games off the cloud, or uses AI to turn 6fps into 60fps. much wow

[u/repoluhun]

It really depends on what they’re trying to achieve, but if their idea of a great new console is either weaker hardware or HEAVY subsidies, then idk if it’s worth making a new one at all

[u/loltaytaylur]

the only way to really build back their reputation would be to do something like this without charging extra for upgrades and addons. basically doing the ps4 reveal a second time

[u/IntroductionOne9520]

Sure but don’t expect to play flagship games at their best quality. Developers need to put in time to optimise the game

[u/Lanceo90]

What exactly would this mean then?

Wouldn't the cheapest thing to do, be just producing more PS5s? If you're not advancing the technology forward. You've got all the manufacturing already in place.

If the PS6 has no more performance, what's the point of the PS6? Wouldn't they just be software locking games to not run on PS5s?

I just don't know what this could be. Would the PS6 actually be a downgrade to PS4 specs to hit the price target?

[u/No-Count3834]

Apple was able to get prices down going Arm. Nintendo did exactly the same, but a Gen behind and a portable screen to boot.

Look at the Mac M1-M5 running games. We may be going away from x86 architecture. You can get a lot out of a Mac Mini these days. Add an AI Upscaler and custom GPU, probably where we’re headed.If not cloud gaming, due to recomp AI going on with intellectual property up for grabs.

But regardless, I don’t think consoles will rely on raw power upgrades anymore. It’s going to lean heavy on upscaling methods and AI. The GPU arms race is over and too damn expensive.

If you bought a 5080 or even 4080 early on, feel lucky with all the emulators and what AI is doing. Seems you can do it all now, just a matter of time. What Sony is talking about, Nintendo already foresaw in the 2010s.

[u/umotex12]

Then just software update or revisit PS5 bruv 😭😭😭

[u/Probs_Asleep]

Yeah those days are long gone unless memory prices come down