This decade might almost be over before the next console generation arrives to video game fans. A new report states that Sony is considering a delay to its current plans, shifting its release schedule forward a few years.
The report lands from Bloomberg, which is focused on the surging memory prices and their effects that are being caused by the growing needs of AI data centers.
According to sources close to Sony, the next PlayStation had a 2027 launch window before the current component crisis. Now, the company is said to be reconsidering those efforts and might be aiming for 2028 or 2029 to try and weather through the storm.
Moreover, the Bloomberg report goes on to say that even Nintendo is feeling the pressure from the shortages. In January, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa said that the company has made no decisions as to whether it will change up the Switch 2 pricing. However, today's report says that Nintendo is already considering a price hike for the Switch 2 in 2026.
From the latest numbers Nintendo has released, the Switch 2 has so far sold over 17.37 million units. It expects that number to cross 19 million by April 2026.
Console prices have also risen in this generation as it aged. If the current options continue to be available for longer periods, and with their own parts becoming scarce, there may be more price hikes for PlayStation and Xbox as well in the future.
The report doesn't go into Microsoft's plans for console gaming in the future, but AMD recently hinted that the semi-custom system-on-a-chip it's developing for the next Xbox is progressing well. A 2027 launch was also mentioned here, which may be when Microsoft wanted to launch its new console as well, rivaling a PlayStation 6. However, with the parts shortages, both companies might be planning to slow things down a little.
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