If the PS6 price lands at $1,000, the next console generation could start with a significant hangover: Ampere Analysis forecasts that combined PS6 and Xbox Project Helix sales over their first five years would be up to 38% lower than the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S managed in the same period.
The forecast, reported by Video Games Chronicle, assumes Sony and Microsoft launch “conventionally designed, incrementally improved next-generation consoles” in 2028 at $1,000. Fewer consoles would also mean less spending: by 2031, Ampere estimates the console games and services market across PlayStation and Xbox would be $3.4 billion (12%) smaller than it would be if the machines launched at $700.
The warning follows a year of rising hardware prices. Component shortages and trade wars have pushed costs up, and the PS5 Pro has already gone from its $700 launch price to $900. Some analysts see $1,000 as a realistic base level for the next generation, a position Sony has done little to discourage — it has said it will not sell the PS6 at a loss.
PS6 price: why $1,000 is on the table
Ampere offers Sony and Microsoft three ways to avoid the price point. They could delay the next generation beyond 2028 and extend the current consoles’ life. They could keep the 2028 window but lean on “heavier hardware subsidies, new monetisation models, more aggressive digital content strategies and optimised sales channels”. Or they could substantially change the hardware instead of just making it faster — the route Nintendo took with the Wii.
Xbox appears to be taking the second and third paths with Project Helix, its PC-console hybrid, and Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has already flagged new payment structures to make it affordable:
“I think we’ve reached a point where it will be hard to imagine that mass audiences can afford thousands of dollars to spend on a console generation, and so I think we will start to see radically different business models that we never expected start to come into orbit later this year.”
Asha Sharma, Xbox CEO
Sharma’s pricing rethink was among the first public signs that Microsoft expects the traditional console model to break under current component costs — the same pressure that produced Ampere’s three-console strategy analysis for Sony earlier this year.
What a $1,000 console would cost in the UAE
At the dirham’s peg to the dollar, $1,000 works out to roughly AED 3,673 before local mark-ups. For a sense of the current ceiling, the PS5 Pro Digital console lists from about AED 4,389 on Amazon.ae. Sony has confirmed nothing about PS6 pricing, and its no-loss stance suggests the gap between generations will not be shrinking.
Will the PS6 cost $1,000?
No price has been confirmed. Ampere’s forecast models what happens if the PS6 and Xbox Project Helix both launch at $1,000 in 2028. Sony has said it will not sell the console at a loss, and the PS5 Pro already costs $900.
What is Xbox Project Helix?
Project Helix is Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox, expected to be a PC-console hybrid rather than a traditional console. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has said the company is exploring new payment structures to keep it affordable.
What would a $1,000 console cost in the UAE?
Around AED 3,673 at the dirham’s peg to the dollar, before local mark-ups. For comparison, the PS5 Pro Digital console currently lists from about AED 4,389 on Amazon.ae.
