Ex-PlayStation Boss: A $300 PS5, Not a $1,200 PS6, Would Be True Innovation
aakashgupta · x · 2026-11-09
Former PlayStation CEO Shawn Layden argues that making a powerful PS6 may be a mistake: "The innovation needs to come not from making a PS6 for $1,200, it's to make another PS5 for $300."
Author Aakash Gupta adds historical context:
- A brand-new PS2 cost $99 in 2009, down from its $299 2000 launch price, as Sony shrank chips onto a single die and converted day-one losses into profit that funded price cuts.
- In 2008 the PS3 cost $448 to build but sold for $399, again fixed by process shrinks.
- The $599 digital PS5 today would buy six PS2s. And the PS5's first price hike came in 2023, two years before the AI memory shortage — so Layden's $300 PS5 isn't coming back even if RAM gets cheap again.
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