Sony Refuses to Sell PS6 Hardware at Big Loss, Warns on Rising Component Costs

Sony says it has no intention of selling PlayStation hardware at a “significant” loss, even as worries mount about what a future PlayStation 6 price tag could look like in the middle of the ongoing RAM and component crunch. With the cost of memory and other parts continuing to climb, the big question for players is whether the next console generation will be priced like a premium luxury item—or whether companies will be forced to eat more of the expense than they want to.

That pressure is already showing up in today’s market. Console prices have risen across the board, and Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo are all dealing with supply issues tied to a component shortage that has been worsened by the AI boom. Sony’s most recent adjustments came in April, when it increased PlayStation 5 pricing. A standard PS5 now costs $649.99, the PS5 Digital Edition is $599.99, and the PS5 Pro is priced at $899.99. Sony framed the change as the result of “continued pressures in the global economic landscape.”

Microsoft has also signaled that higher prices are coming to its ecosystem. Just last week, the company announced major Xbox price increases that take effect this August—arriving less than a year after the previous Xbox price bump in October 2025. Microsoft said it had hoped to avoid another round, noting it spent months working with suppliers on alternatives. It then pointed directly to the cost problem: console storage and memory have reportedly surged by more than 2.5 times, and the company expects those costs to roughly double again by the fall of 2027. Microsoft also emphasized that the broader consumer electronics industry is struggling, but consoles feel the pinch particularly hard because they’re usually not sold at a profit. Unlike phones, PCs, speakers, and other consumer devices, consoles are often priced below the cost of making them, turning the business into a long-term bet on software and services rather than upfront hardware margin.

What Sony is saying about PS6 pricing and losses

Against that backdrop, the concern isn’t only that Sony might raise PS5 prices again. The bigger anxiety is what happens next: the yet-to-be-announced PS6 and Microsoft’s Project Helix could both land at prices of at least $1,000 unless their makers are willing to absorb a “significant” loss on every unit sold.

In a recent question-and-answer session with Hideaki Nishino, the president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, Nishino addressed hardware pricing and profitability. The answers were published in English by Sony itself, and his message was clear: Sony does not plan to take a big financial hit on next-gen consoles.

When asked whether Sony’s approach to hardware pricing would continue to prioritize hardware profitability—reflecting how things are done today—Nishino responded by reframing the purpose of hardware. He said Sony views devices as the foundation for delivering the gaming experience, and that it’s using products like the PlayStation Portal Remote Player to provide ways to play that extend beyond the living room, which has traditionally been treated as the primary “usage environment.”

On the pricing question, Nishino acknowledged that it isn’t realistic for Sony to absorb every increase in component costs. He also said Sony has already rolled out some price changes outside Japan. Even so, he claimed that sales are currently moving according to plan and that Sony doesn’t believe the changes have reduced overall customer demand.

Most importantly, Nishino reiterated a clear principle: Sony does not intend to sell hardware at significant losses. At the same time, he said the company is watching the market closely and continuing to reevaluate its approach. He added that Sony believes it matters for customers to understand the value they receive relative to the price.

For players, there are a few ways to read those comments. Nishino’s mention of the PlayStation Portal and delivering experiences “beyond the living room” could be interpreted as another signal toward a long-rumored PS6 handheld or hybrid direction. There’s also an admission that Sony will continue passing along at least some of the component cost pressure to consumers, and that has already happened with the PS5 price increases. In practical terms, the takeaway is that gamers may continue to absorb the impact.

There’s also the claim that sales are proceeding as planned, which some recent U.S. reporting suggests may not be fully accurate. May, for example, was described as a disastrous month for PlayStation and Xbox sales in the United States, driven by the price rises that reportedly cooled consumer interest in buying a new console. New Circana figures cited in that reporting claim PS5 spending dropped 43% year-on-year, while unit sales fell by 58%. The same coverage states that PlayStation hardware unit sales in May reached the lowest total since May 2000, while Xbox hardware unit sales were the lowest ever recorded for a May period in the U.S.

PS5 supply, PS6 timing, and the lingering lifecycle problem

While Sony works through the RAMpocalypse, it has reportedly not settled on a PS6 launch window yet. The nearly six-year-old PS5 is nearing the 100 million mark sold, with 93.7 million units reported so far, though it still trails the PS4 at a comparable stage. It’s also worth remembering that the PS4 saw multiple price cuts around this point in its lifecycle, which helped it become an attractive casual purchase. This generation has moved in the opposite direction, and that shift could limit the growth of the install base.

Supply is another worry heading into the holiday season. There are concerns that Sony and Microsoft may not be able to push enough consoles into retail to match demand this Christmas, especially with a guaranteed “system seller” on the horizon in the form of GTA 6. During a financial Q&A in May, Sony executive Hiroki Totoki insisted that Sony has sufficient materials to cover the rest of 2026.

Separately, there have been reports that Sony might need to delay the PS6 even further—possibly until 2028 or as late as 2029—because of the chip shortage driven by AI-related demand. An analyst report in January suggested Sony could move the PS6 launch out beyond 2028 and extend the PS5 lifecycle. David Gibson, a senior analyst at MST International focused on game and tech companies, predicted that “rising memory prices will not impact short-term performance thanks to Sony’s existing inventory.” However, he warned that increased memory costs could become a problem for Sony in the next fiscal year, which ends in March 2027. In that view, Sony may end up passing additional future cost increases onto consumers.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].