- Sony CEO Hiroko Totoki says a release date for the PS6 has yet to be decided
- The global component shortage and trade wars have impacted Sony’s decision-making
- Totoki says, “We need to take some action. Otherwise, we cannot survive in this landscape”
Sony CEO Hiroko Totoki has confirmed that the PlayStation 6 release date remains undecided due to the ongoing manufacturing component crisis and trade wars.
During an interview with The Wall Street Journal (via VGC), in which Totoki primarily discussed the company’s television and movie business, the CEO briefly touched on the PS6 and the challenges of developing the next-generation PlayStation console.
Namely, the global RAM crisis, driven primarily by the rapid demand for AI data centers and seeing prices skyrocket, and the ongoing trade wars.
“Considering that importance, we need to take some action. Otherwise, we cannot survive in this landscape,” Totoki said.
Analysts have previously predicted that the PS6 could launch in 2027, which The Wall Street Journal also mentioned in its interview; however, due to the component shortage, Sony hasn’t decided the launch date internally.
“Totoki said the company still hasn’t fixed a date for PS6’s launch,” The Wall Street Journal states.
Totoki last spoke about the PS6 in May but was hesitant to share anything about the console, saying that the current circumstances regarding the RAM crisis, “memory price is also expected to be very high [in] FY 2027.”
“We have not yet decided on at what timing we will launch the new console, or at what prices,” Totoki said at the time. “So we would like to really observe and follow the situation.
“Looking at the current circumstances, the memory price is also expected to be very high [in] FY 2027, because there will still be a shortage of supply. So under that assumption, we must think carefully what we will do.”
There have also been numerous claims from industry insiders, such as Moore’s Law is Dead, who have suggested a 2027 launch date as well, and even claimed that Sony will launch its next-generation PlayStation with three devices in 2027, including two consoles and a companion handheld.
Recent comments from Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Hideaki Nishino also seem to suggest that the next-generation PlayStation console could be a handheld.
However, Following Sony’s announcement that it will end the production of physical game discs in January 2028, analysts have determined that the next-gen PS6 console will launch in 2028.
According to Ampere analyst Piers Harding-Rolls, the all-digital plan telegraphs Sony’s upcoming plans, and the “current expectation is that the console will launch at the end of 2028.”
The analyst also suggested that “at a minimum,” the standard version of the PS6 won’t have a physical media disc drive since Sony will be looking for ways to reduce the cost of its next-gen hardware, and “this is an easy win.”
