Analysts Predict PS6 and Xbox Helix Prices As High As $999
We recently heard from industry insiders that a $699 PlayStation 6 may still be theoretically possible, even with the current hardware market conditions resulting in steep prices for components like memory and storage. Shortly following that report, though, industry analyst, Matt Piscatella (via GamesRadar+) predicted that both the PlayStation 6 and the Xbox Helix consoles may cost as much as $999. He largely blames the AI industry demand and inflated hardware prices for the price increase, but noted that there isn’t much certainty in the current hardware market, whether you’re considering launch dates or pricing. Dr. Serkan Toto, CEO of Kantan Games, a consultancy firm, noted that, with the recent price increases to the PS5 line-up, Sony may have “baked in potential future fluctuations…instead of raising prices more frequently and over a longer period of time.”
Toto goes on to say that “I think $999 at least for one variant of the PS6 is not impossible,” potentially alluding to a PS6 Pro, if current industry prices are anything to go by, but Joost van Dreunen, a video games professor at NYU, argues that “we’re quickly moving towards a world in which a $1,000 console will be the norm, and console gaming will be a luxury expenditure.” Van Dreunen goes on to predict that we may see the next-gen consoles start at a 50% higher price than the current generation, which would mean a $600 starting price for the base PS6 digital edition and somewhere in the region of $750 for the disc drive model. On the Microsoft side of things, this would put the base model Xbox Helix somewhere around $450, while the “Series X” version would be around $750. Sony is also slated to release a standalone handheld game console that has been commonly referred to as the PlayStation Portable, but there is no indication of pricing on that.
