Sony May Push Next PlayStation To 2028 or 2029 as AI-fueled Memory Chip Shortage Upends Plans (yahoo.com)
- Reference: 0180803004
- News link: https://games.slashdot.org/story/26/02/16/146210/sony-may-push-next-playstation-to-2028-or-2029-as-ai-fueled-memory-chip-shortage-upends-plans
- Source link: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rampant-ai-demand-memory-fueling-223000743.html
A delay of that magnitude would upend Sony's carefully orchestrated strategy to sustain user engagement between hardware generations. The shortage traces back to Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron diverting the bulk of their manufacturing toward high-bandwidth memory for Nvidia's AI accelerators, leaving less capacity for conventional DRAM. The cost of one type of DRAM jumped 75% between December and January alone. Nintendo is also contemplating raising the price of its Switch 2 console in 2026.
[1] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rampant-ai-demand-memory-fueling-223000743.html
Out of Coffee (Score:3)
AI is:
Built using stolen intellectual property
Eliminating white-color jobs driving us toward a "basic income" society
Housed in data centers using huge amounts of fossil fuel and undoing progress toward moving to clean energy
Spreading misinformation and undermining democracy
Unleashing a torrent of "AI Slop" into the software ecosystem
Also, we are [1]postponing the next PlayStation... [youtube.com]
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bbv5B71KmkA
Storage isn't faring any better (Score:2)
[1]https://www.tomshardware.com/p... [tomshardware.com]
I typically buy used enterprise drives for my modest zfs array but it looks like now is a terrible time to upgrade.
[1] https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/hdds/western-digital-is-already-sold-out-of-hard-drives-for-all-of-2026-chief-says-some-long-term-agreements-for-2027-and-2028-already-in-place
Modularize these things already. (Score:2)
I know the whole goal of the console world is a restricted set of hardware, that simplifies testing of games and ensures a consistent experience but really some major components like the GPU and storage should be made swapable.
What would anyone want in Ps6 or another PS5 refresh? Native 4k is still a tough/expensive even in the PC world. Technologwise right now what will be delivered is most likely better frame-gen and super resolution. The games mostly are not memory or CPU bound on current kit.
They make
Re: (Score:1)
Yea I don't understand either. The PS5 does have some pretty good graphics; here's my review of Ratchet and Clank
: [1]https://battlepenguin.com/gami... [battlepenguin.com]
It's a noticeable difference, but does it really matter? God of War looked amazing on my PS4 Pro, and I recently hacked my PS4 Pro so i just play pirated games on it and keep it disconnected from the Internet. The previous generation had more than enough amazing games. The Steam Box/Cube/Whatever is not going to be a huge uplift. It looks like its specs wi
[1] https://battlepenguin.com/gaming/fire-emblem-engage-hi-fi-rush-ratchet-clank-rifts-apart-13-sentinels-aegis-rim/#ratchet-and-clank-rifts-apart
It's Low Need, Not Just RAM Prices (Score:3, Insightful)
.. The current generation PS5 already performs at 60 frames per second on most 4k content - Where is the NEED for a new console right now? What novel new feature is worth running out to spend the probable $600+ that Sony will want for a new console at this point in time?
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It can do either 60 frames per second OR 4k, and use a bunch of upscaling to do so.
However we can't do much better for the price because the price of the wafer is going up on each new manufacturing process instead of staying the same as it was from 1970 to 2010.
To make a non-disappointing new generation, they would need to do something more than "die shrink", like tiles/chiplets or even some technique that does not exist right now.
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> What novel new feature is worth running out to spend the probable $600+ that Sony will want for a new console at this point in time?
Portability. Carry it in your pocket and use it on the bus, during breaks at work, etc. Phones do this and the Switch does this (Switch is a little to big for fitting in your pocket), but not at PS quality with PS games.
Re: (Score:2)
The Switch doesn't do it at PS quality with PS-level games either. Even Switch 2 versions of games are generally inferior to other consoles. That's fine as it's expected but Sony can't beat that. If you want console power you need console hardware, not lightweight portable hardware. It can be portable, but it's got to be serious.
How about do things that expand the market...? (Score:4, Insightful)
Rumor has it that Microsoft is going to allow the next XBox to be used as a desktop PC. Steam stuff already allows that. I'd assert that it might be wise for Sony to take a look into that. If Sony could make the next console function like a thin client or zero client, coupled with management abilities, businesses would buy those in mass quantities, especially if Sony made some VDI software that worked well. The trick is to get enterprises to buy the consoles for something as well, as it is a lot easier to sell 20,000 items to one buyer, than 1 item to 20,000 people.
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Sony already went down the "Console as a PC" road with the PS3.... and in time revoked the ability to do so. So any gamer who has half a brain won't buy a PS6 for that feature because they know Sony will just use it as bait and switch tactic.
Re: (Score:2)
I would assume that the Xbox would spy on me. I would assume that anything Sony made would spy on me. Sony already rugpulled Linux once. The Steam machine being a PC is fine because I don't have any reason to believe Valve is going to spy on that stuff. Even the Steam hardware survey is opt in.
Making the next console a thin client is good for what? Jack shit, it's as powerful and expensive as a real PC, so making it a thin client when a TV can do that with an app would be a ridiculous half-step. No business
Why would they even bother until about 2030? (Score:3)
A few major things Sony has going for them:
1. Large install base (~92M according to Gemini).
2. More powerful than the Switch 2.
3. Way more relevant than XBox.
4. Microsoft is starting to have no choice but to target PS5; Gears of War Reloaded and Halo Combat Evolved Remaster are two major examples.
5. Nintendo is struggling really hard to not push the Switch 2 to $475-$500 which is a really bad price point for them.
Seriously, Sony would have to be just stupid to push a PS6 any time soon when they could just double down on content for the PS5.
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Because technology companies that stand still quickly lose their lead. I doubt people will be willing to pay double the price for a console as would be the case with today’s memory and storage prices. Perhaps an opportunity to delay a bit and use the time to significantly optimise things to the point that the wait will be worth it.
The surprising agents of the revolution. (Score:4, Funny)
I doubt Karl Marx ever envisioned that come the revolution, the agents of revolutionary terror that upend the old order and drag the billionares to the wall would be Gamers infuriated that the tech bros AI fantasies deprived them of their new gaming consoles.
"Gamers of the world, you have nothing to lose except your potato pc and possibly your virginity".
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I suspect that he would and he wouldn't. The specifics of commodities used for popular light entertainment suddenly becoming an ultra-hot item as an ingredient in the means of production would probably come as a surprise: as though readers of penny-dreadfuls were suddenly rioting because mill owners switched to building factory equipment out of paper pulp.
The broad-strokes realization by formerly skilled laborers and petit bourgeoise that they are actually moving downward toward 'proletariat' status, rat
What would Marx Think? [Re:The surprising agen...] (Score:2)
Interesting analysis of Marx's view of current economic changes. One question:
> ...
> The development that Marx didn't seem to have suspected(though, in the slightly-a-cop-out 'sufficiently long term', wouldn't necessarily view as relevant); is arguably the post-WWII period of backsliding on industrial revolution era labor relations.
As I understand Marx (and I'm not a Marx scholar by any means), he thought that gradual evolution of labor power would not move society incrementally toward socialism, but instead advancing to the next step required a communist revolution. The idea of gradual evolution toward a better (and more socialist) society was more the Fabians' concept.
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That's why I tagged that bit as the part that Marx would not have expected; and a historical period that (while it unfortunately has the look of having been an anomaly) ran counter to his thesis. To the best of my understanding he essentially considered the sort of welfare state/regulated capitalism stuff that gets called 'socialism' as either irrelevant or antagonistic to 'Socialism' as he had it in mind(though, admittedly, he was a much more interesting critic of capitalism than theorist of what would com
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Trucks were invented after his death, so it would be quite hard to predict anything.