Former PlayStation head Shawn Layden is skeptical about the market prospects for next-generation consoles. He stated that if the PS6 and Xbox Project Helix only offer minor technical upgrades, consumers may not be willing to pay for these high-priced new products.
As prices for this generation's PS5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles continue to rise, many analysts predict that next-generation consoles could be priced around $1,000. However, Layden believes this price point will struggle to drive sales.
In an interview on The Expansion Pass podcast, he said, "I truly believe that if we're just upgrading ray tracing effects and boosting floating-point performance, I'm not sure such selling points can convince consumers to shell out $1,000. Has technology hit some kind of bottleneck? Is simply being 'faster and more vibrant' no longer the core goal, and insufficient for product differentiation?"
The former Sony executive also compared the generational leap from PS1 to PS2 to the transition from VHS tapes to DVDs. "Once you've seen the picture quality of a DVD, you can never go back to VHS," he said. He noted that today's console generations no longer deliver the same kind of perceptibly dramatic experience upgrades as they once did.
He added, "Technological progress has begun to plateau, with the improvement curve no longer steep. If consumers are asked to pay more for these incremental experience upgrades... they might reconsider whether to make the purchase."
Layden also discussed subscription services like Xbox Game Pass, arguing that adding games to subscription libraries upon release significantly increases the difficulty for developers to turn a profit.