Analysts Discuss Potential Price of PS6 and Project Helix Following Steam Machine Price - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 24 June 2026 / 9,810 Views
Valve this week announced the Steam Machine will start at $1,049 for the 512GB version without a controller and go up to $1,428 for the 2TB version with a Steam Controller. Analysts speaking with GamesIndustry discussed what this could mean with the next-generation consoles, the PlayStation 6 and Xbox's Project Helix.
"At this rate, the next generation may not even release until 2028, and when it does, north of a grand is the floor," said Aldora CEO Joost van Dreunen. "Even existing devices are getting marked up. The companies that manufacture the necessary components have fully shifted toward selling to hyperscalers, paying a premium to build out their data centres.
"The memory makers – Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron – are now 'post-consumer', which tells you gamers matter less and prices go up. Earlier this month, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma conceded that its upcoming console is going to need a new business model and hardware partners just to ship, and that storage and memory will cost five times more by holiday 2027 than they did in 2024."
Ampere Analysis’s head of games research Piers Harding-Rolls added, "Next-gen consoles will likely be more expensive, but they have different levers that can be pulled to offset hardware costs, which can support cheaper pricing. Sony has more scale than Valve and is better positioned in terms of supply chain accessibility through its entrenched relationships and broader electronics business.
"Console companies will be hoping that they can take advantage of improving component inventories and more stable pricing as it gets closer to the launch of next-gen consoles. Market disruption and other factors means this is most likely to be at the end of 2028."
Senior Director and Video Game Industry Advisor at Circana Mat Piscatella also agrees that $1,000 or more isn't a given, but it is likely.
"But it will possibly (even likely) happen anyways," said Piscatella. "Given the chaos in the world of components (and lots of other things, for that matter) the future here is beyond cloudy."
Newzoo market intelligence director Manu Rosier mentioned the PlayStation 5 Pro already costs $899, but does think the next-generation consoles are likely to be under $1,000 for "psychological and marketing reasons."
"The PS5 Pro is already at $899 after two hikes inside a year, so the distance to $1,000 is short," said Rosier. "Base next-generation models are likely to hold under $999 for psychological and marketing reasons. Premium tiers are a separate question. Component costs sit outside the manufacturers' control, and there is no sign of an AI-driven cooldown in memory and storage demand. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has already said memory costs will affect Project Helix pricing and availability."
Rosier added historically Sony and Microsoft have sold their consoles at or below costs, which is then turned into a profit with the sale of games and subscriptions.
"That subsidy capacity is what can keep a base console under $999 even as build costs climb," he stated. He also sees "platform holders launching their own streaming boxes, and hardware-subscription models that spread the upfront cost over time."
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
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im happy with my switch2
Just delay until all of the RAM and SSD makers can get new foundries opened in order to meet the increased demand. I feel like I heard something about a new Google compression algorithm that will greatly reduce AI RAM and storage demands as well, that should help the supply to catch up with demand as well once it is in full use.
There is literally no good reason to release PS5 and the high end Project Helix console for over $1000 in 2027 or 2028, the volume sales will be so lackluster that game publishers will be forced to release cross-gen games anyway until at least 2032. Development budgets will be even higher than the too high levels right now, because developers will have to employ optimization teams for 7 or 8 different platforms for like 4 or 5 years straight, PC, Series S, Series X, PS5, PS5 Pro, PS6, Xbox Helix high end, and possibly Project Helix low end (Asha talked about a need to have an affordable option next gen, so now way the high end Helix with the specs that leaked is their only console).
Eh. I don’t think it’s as easy to delay the system as you make it out to be. The software lineup and hardware infrastructure is likely too far planned for things to change now. It’s a very tricky situation… I can see maybe a 1-2y delay, but definitely not any more than that. Especially with hardware sales falling as they are.
Hmmm, don't know about that. We're still a year and 5 months out from the rumored Holiday 2027 PS6 release, at this point only select developers will have early dev kits, not even finalized ones. Xbox is rumored for Holiday 2028, so even further out. I feel like it's early enough that Holiday 2027-Holiday 2028 dev teams can end any PS6 or Project Helix exclusivity or cross-gen plans and refocus on PS5/Series S|X. As for manufacturing pipelines, while I'm sure they have contracts in place for parts already, those contracts can probably be delayed a year or two without any large fee, the parts manufacturers (CPU, GPU, motherboard, etc.) will be more than happy to fill more lucrative AI server deals in the meantime, as will their manufacturing partners who actually build the consoles putting each part in can likely refocus on putting together AI servers until Xbox and Playstation actually need them.
So it's just be a matter of the cancellation fee for their RAM and SSD contracts, not sure what that cancellation fee would be, but might be worth it in the long run compared to the brand power damage from releasing a $1000+ console in this economy. If they release at that price, they could easily be seen as greedy companies by the general public, people who don't really understand the AI caused shortage issues. Playstation and Xbox have both badly damaged their brands by overpricing their consoles at launch in the past, with PS3 and Xbox One respectively, I think they'd be foolish to do it again.
PS5 is fading already. If Sony waits with the next gen until hardware prices drop, the Playstation brand will be a legend of old. At some point they have to renew their presence in the market.
Agreed, and it´s pathetic a whole article with multiple ¨analysts¨ can´t address the fundamental of supply/demand impact from new fabs coming online in the next several years, not to mention indirect factors like better memory efficiency, and AI running out of capital to keep fueling their expansion without revenue to match. OK, one can argue the market won´t recover to wheree it was before, but this is just fundamentals they are completely ignoring. The end result of course is people just baselessly extrapolating based on present memory prices.
I see similar shallow arguments deployed elsewhere, e.g. ¨the software is too far planned¨. That maybe worked in PS3 and PS4 transitions. Nobody even can tell you what game could possibly ¨need¨ next-gen to function. Deciding to delay next-gen would just save them money vs developing a cross-gen product which almost all games in the launch period would ever have been in the wildest imagination. But nobody cares about finishing a thought, it´s just enough to gesture in the direction of a feeling, and they are happy.
There;s no point in delaying. Everything at this point is already signed. The way it works is you have a place in line and they make your chips and that's it. Sony would have to cancel that and go the back of the line. It's better to just make it and hope you can drop prices in a year or two. There's no guarantee these prices drop anytime soon. They could wait until 2028 and nothing changes, hell things could get worse if AI explodes or has some new innovation. Just release it and keep PS5 in circulation if you have to. Plus they also have the handheld which is different from the console so they need to make that as well.
I agree. Console makers need to wait until RAM and memory prices are much more reasonable before launching their next systems.
there is zero reason to delay, you made the assumption that new supply means lower prices, but new supply has come online for the last 6 years and the PS5 is more expensive than ever
the market decides the pricing of parts, once you've settled on your design, you are stuck with it
if they need a cheaper product, they'll have to make an entirely different cheaper product, a PS7, where cost control is a part of it from the beginning (smaller soc, low power consumption, what can they do to lower ram and storage costs anyways? not much)
the ps6 will end up the 6th best selling PlayStation console!
These prices are going to catch up with these big companies and they will find their sales in the gutter and wondering why there quarterly profits and units sold keep dropping.
People act like this is unprecedented, but Sony sold the PS3 for $600 and was losing roughly $250-$300 per unit at launch. Quote me on this, Sony won't do a Steam Machine.
That was not sustainable. Sony can afford to lose some money on each console but not that much.
Sony sold the PS3 at a lost for nearly it's entire life cycle. It was only near the end of its cycle PS3 became selling at a profit.
Sure, but I don't they sold it at that much loss for all that time.
People's earnings aren't increasing like console prices. They'll miss their good old days.
With the information we have in 2026, not below $900 for PS6 and it might hit $1,000 or more.
Helix I'm not sure. I think Asha might have the team scale back some of the more expensive stuff Phil was planning.
Gamers just have to save up.
Im up for a subscription based service. Pay it off over 2 /3 years . If theve been doin it for cell phones, why not consoles
I don't think people are satisfied enough in this gen to warrant moving to another gen to, as we all know, a probably really high price. I truly think releasing next gen in 2027 could be awful for the industry. All i see in the comments of rumors about this on Twitter or Tiktok is disappointement, while usually gamers love rumours of new consoles. It is really telling imo.
Don't expect prices to drop any time soon: "Micron Locks in Historically High Memory Prices for Five Years", "Micron stock jumps 9% as soaring prices from memory crunch lead to quadrupling of revenue"
They can delay it, but then the development cycle of the consoles just gets more expensive. I mean those engineers are not going to twittle their thumbs with no paycheck for 2 years.
Ill be shocked if next gen is under $1000
It wont be as bad a people are thinking. One thing that Sony, and hopefully Microsoft, will continue to do is subsidize prices. This is somehing Valve is against. So while we should brace for a high price, we should also understand that we won't be paying full price like with the Steam Machine.
Valve dont make money off monthly subs so they don't have much choice. Sony and MS can price cut to get more subs but unfortunately they are both just as greedy.
I sadly think gaming PC and console makers are just going to have to deal with this stuff for a while. While AI startups can outbid long standing corps over the need for RAM, making demand and costs skyrocket, concessions have to be made. Sit it out, let half of the AI industry crumble under it's own hubris then get on with things.
If this means delaying PS6, do it because very few people are looking to buy a console for £1000. It's got to be £500 really and that just isn't happening with an upgrade to a console that costs more.
Basically what @shikamaru317 said.
