Sony’s president has confirmed the company has not locked in a launch window or retail price for the PS6, pointing to ongoing global memory shortages as the main reason for the delay in planning.
Hiroki Totoki, President and CEO of Sony Group Corporation, addressed the PS6 during the Q&A portion of Sony’s Q4 fiscal year 2025 earnings briefing on May 8, 2026.
He was asked directly whether the rising cost of memory components would affect the upcoming console. His answer was blunt.
“We have not yet decided on at what timing we will launch the new console, or at what prices,” Totoki said. “So we would like to really observe and follow the situation.”
A RAM Crisis Is Holding Things Up
The reason behind the uncertainty is a global memory shortage that is pushing up production costs. Totoki confirmed the spike in RAM prices is already affecting the Bill of Materials for current hardware, and that effect will show up in console prices.
Sony has secured the memory it needs to cover the rest of 2026. But looking ahead, the situation does not improve quickly. Totoki said the memory price is expected to stay high through fiscal year 2027 due to continued supply shortages and growing demand worldwide.
“Under that assumption, we must think carefully what we will do,” he said.
Sony Is Weighing New Ways to Sell the PS6
Beyond the pricing question, Sony is also thinking about changing how it sells the PS6 altogether.
“We would like to think about various simulations, including changing business models, to come up with the best solution and strategy,” Totoki said. He did not provide any details about what those models might look like.
This suggests Sony could be exploring alternatives to the standard one-time hardware purchase, though nothing has been confirmed.
What the Leaks and Reports Have Said
While Sony has not committed to a date, external reports and hardware leakers have been pointing to a 2027 launch window. A well-known hardware leaker said in March 2026 that a 2027 release was still likely despite growing speculation about delays.
On pricing, leaker KeplerL2 has indicated the PS6 could be slightly cheaper than the feared $1,000 mark, but likely around what a PS5 Pro costs today.
Sony’s CFO had earlier flagged a longer PS5 lifecycle, which many took as an indirect signal that the PS6 was being pushed back. Earlier reports had also suggested the PS6 could slip as far as 2029 due to the ongoing chip and memory supply situation.
Xbox’s next-gen console, codenamed Project Helix, is also reportedly targeting a launch next year.
