Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden doesn't think the inevitable PS6 needs to be more powerful to be a success. While new console generations offer less drastic technical improvements each time, Layden reckons "true innovation" would come from making the next-gen machine affordable.
Speaking to The Trophy Room podcast, Layden recalls how past generations offered "something mind-blowing" every time a new console came out. "The jump from PS1 to PS2 was incredible," he says, "and the jump from compact disc to DVD." Even the PS4 was "completely networked" and Sony still managed to offer the console for $399 at the time.
Meanwhile, rumors are that the PS6 will come with "even more ray tracing and more teraflops." That might sound impressive to tech wizards, but to Layden and the average player, "these are differences only dogs can hear."
"I think we have enough power in the machine. The innovation needs to come not from making PS6 for $1,200 - it's to make another PS5 for $300. Now, that would be true innovation," he explains. Layden's comments are particularly timely right now as the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S are much more expensive today than they were at launch, six years ago. "This is the first platform that I've seen that has gone up in price over time."
Those rising console costs come from the ongoing RAM shortage, as AI data centers gobble up components that are used in almost every other consumer device, from consoles to smart phones. For Layden, these price points block a large crowd of potential buyers from ever entering the door - a crowd that would've traditionally jumped in at the end of the generation for a cheaper asking price.
"What the company needs to do is do what it's never done, which is don't iterate the console," he says. "Make it smaller, make it cheaper, do all the things you can around that. It's more than enough power to build the kind of games all of us want to play."
