The memory shortage crisis is messing up the consumer electronics market six ways to Sunday, including videogame consoles. On one hand, there are rumours of the next generation being delayed beyond its expected seven-year window. But on the flip side, there’s the argument that console makers will tough it out and release them within said window because contracts for the silicon the consoles will be using have already been signed. Even if the latter is what ends up happening, it will be at quite the asking price. This is because the cost to build the PlayStation 6 is claimed to be US$960 (~RM3,908).
This comes via leakster Kepler_L2, who has made a number of such claims recently on the NeoGAF forums. Back in March, they claimed that the bill of materials (BoM) for the PlayStation 6 was around US$760 (~RM3,094). Over the weekend, they posted in another thread that the figure “went up by ~US$200 since I made that post”. Which is a grim pattern to be observing in such a short period of time.
With that in mind, it’s not exactly good news for what the PlayStation 6 will eventually cost when it gets its official launch. There is already the potential trend of memory prices doubling by the time this year is out, and potentially tripling by the end of 2027. Current estimates already put it as costing more than the PS5 Pro, which recently got its price marked up. So one can only imagine what the cost to build the console will end up being by then.
If it’s any consolation, consoles are usually loss leaders, sold at a slight loss initially and making up the difference as production becomes more efficient, or simply thanks to software sales. Though it seems pretty unlikely that the subsidy is large enough to make it so that the PlayStation 6 cost around the same price its current-generation counterparts.
(Source: NeoGAF [1], [2])
