- Ex-PlayStation executive says Sony should make the PS6 cheaper and smaller instead of increasing hardware power.
- He argues the console needs to innovate by being a PS5 as cheap as $300 to reach a wider audience.
- Shawn believes PS6 doesn’t need more power when average gamers care more about price instead.
Unlike past generations, the current-gen consoles have become more costly years into their lifecycle instead of getting cheaper. If rumors are anything to go by, rising memory costs and scarcity will only make prices more absurd for the next-gen PS6 and Xbox consoles.
Ex-PlayStation executive Shawn Layden argues that Sony needs to reverse its course and innovate PS6 by making it a ‘PS5 for $300’ console instead of beefing up its hardware with incremental upgrades that only tech wizards would care about.
Why it matters: PS6 is not going to offer incredible and impressive leaps like the previous generations. So, Shawn Layden argues it’s better to impress average gamers by delivering a cheaper $300-$400 price tag instead of incremental hardware improvements.
Speaking in The Trophy Room podcast, Shawn Layden explains that past console generations offered huge and exciting technological leaps while keeping consoles affordable. Those kinds of jumps are nearly impossible nowadays as hardware innovation hits a ceiling.
Additionally, adding more ray tracing, teraflops, and extra graphical horsepower to PS6 may not benefit it as much as Sony thinks because of the absurd rumored price tags.
I think we have enough power in the machine. The innovation needs to come not from making PS6 for $1,200 – it’s to make another PS5 for $300. Now, that would be true innovation.
Ex-PlayStation Boss, Shawn Layden.
He argues that only ‘dogs’ would care about such minor hardware improvements, so Sony should go against iterating the next-gen console with hardware upgrades for the first time in history.
Make it smaller, make it cheaper, do all the things you can around that. It’s more than enough power to build the kind of games all of us want to play.
Shawn explains that the PS5 is already strong enough but still remains underutilized, so targeting a wider range of players with a lower price instead of iterative upgrades makes more sense for the PlayStation brand moving forward.
Do you think the strategy suggested by the ex-PlayStation boss could work for Sony? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, or join the discussion on the Tech4Gamers forum.
Thank you! Please share your positive feedback. 🔋
How could we improve this post? Please Help us. 😔
Shameer Sarfaraz has previously worked for eXputer as a Senior News Writer for several years. Now with Tech4Gamers, he loves to devotedly keep up with the latest gaming and entertainment industries. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and years of experience reporting on games. Besides his passion for breaking news stories, Shahmeer loves spending his leisure time farming away in Stardew Valley. VGC, IGN, GameSpot, Game Rant, TheGamer, GamingBolt, The Verge, NME, Metro, Dot Esports, GameByte, Kotaku Australia, PC Gamer, and more have cited his articles.
Join Our Community
