This thread (despite the false premise) made me think about how now that consoles are pretty much closed-platform PC's I wouldn't mind paying >$1,000 for an enthusiast-tier one that competed with top-end PC's.
Maybe Sony and MS should just release different tiers from the start of each generation rather than have mid-gen refreshes.
$200-$300 bare minimum Series-S tier console
$400-500 mid-level console that competes with mid-ranged PC's.
$600-$700 that competes with upper-mid range systems like the 7700xt and 4070 ones being posted in this thread.
Then $1100-$1500 that competes with top-end PC's (4080/7800 XTX level.)
It's whales/enthusiasts who are buying the more expensive platforms anyway, so why not tier prices? Being able to buy a PS5 Ultimate with performance on par with an RTX 4080 for say $1300 wouldn't be that bad of a deal really.
In the past manufacturers didn't do this because scaling at the software level wasn't as seamless as it is today. Microsoft already sort of dabbled with this with the Series S/Series X.
