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CosmicSex on 05 July 2026
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EricHiggin said:
CosmicSex said:

I think Sony and Microsoft are both aware of what's going on and its not what they would want at all.  They will try keeping the price down even if it means offering lower end SKUs.  I honest don't think that Microsoft intends to launch with a $1300 console anymore.  I expect them both to offer $599 options at launch.  This thing where these giant companies price themselves out of existence isn't something they are going to willingly walk into. 

I mostly agree, and I hope they're tuned in well enough to know they really need to approach next gen this way.

MS already did this with the Series S/X. They explained back in 2020 that they saw a future coming where this hardware strategy made sense. They were right. They just executed a bit poorly this time around. It would be a bit shocking if MS didn't stick with the low and high tier model for Helix. They could also add a handheld to that strategy if they decided to.

SNY can obviously do the same thing, and I don't see why they wouldn't, given what's happening and what looks to be continuing with RAM and SSD's. They've got a PS6 that's going to be Pro level in terms of cost, plus a handheld, which can only be so powerful since it's mobile. All SNY has to do is use the mobile guts of the handheld and put them in a console and they've got themselves a borderline affordable PS6 model. if they want to make it widely affordable, they can subsidize it if they want to.

This solves the cost problem for the most part. While it would hinder how far next gen can advance to a certain degree, 9th gen already wasn't that large of a leap beyond 8th gen. We're at the point of diminishing returns, so 10th gen will again be a lesser leap overall beyond 9th gen no matter what.

All excellent points.  I think they will lead with the mobile as they can probably tell from Nintendo's approach that it works.  And with the barebones version as well.  I wonder if the PS6 main console is delayed a year.