Nobody’s asking for a PlayStation6 yet and Sony should take note

It’s hardly a coincidence that the eventual successor to the current market leader in the video games market, the PlayStation6, is grabbing more and more headlines since January: there is, after all, a lot of talk online about Sony’s future plans regarding its next home console, as one would expect towards the end of a usual 7-year PlayStation cycle. The universe, though, chose the first global pandemic timeline in December 2019 for some reason, so things did not play out like they normally would… and that, along with other recent developments, may have forced Sony to reconsider, if not alter, said plans.

That is what Bloomberg’s Debby Wu, Takashi Mochizuki and Yoolim Lee are reporting anyway, as “according to people familiar with the company’s thinking, Sony is now considering pushing back the debut of its next PlayStation console to 2028 or even 2029”. The claim is included in a report focusing on the major problems the global memory and storage chip crisis – fueled by current demand for both during this AI data center buildout frenzy – is causing to consumer electronics manufacturers. Nintendo is also mentioned as one of the companies affected, said to be “contemplating raising the price of Switch 2 in 2026” for the same reasons.

Bloomberg’s article would have attracted attention anyway, but it just so happened to come less than a month after another analyst, David Gibson of Sandstone Insights, claimed in his own report that “Sony sees the PS5’s lifecycle extended and the release of PS6 happening later than many expected”. Other media outlets made similar claims during the last three months or so too. Random Reddit threads or fanboys speculating on Twitter is one thing, but when people working for research firms and large news organizations are risking credibility to report on the same unconfirmed development, the chances of it being based on solid information are high.

Since Sony has not gone on record regarding any specific timeline for the successor to the PS5 – it has barely acknowledged its existence, in fact – there’s reason to believe that the company is, at the very least, considering its options amid this unforeseen key component shortage circumstance. Practically any corporation finding itself in a similar situation – especially one answering to shareholders – will choose the least damaging, most profitable way out of it, which is not often to the benefit of consumers.

In this particular case, though, Sony should do exactly what most other companies would do in its place: that is, delay the launch of its next home console until such a time as it makes sense for everyone involved. Why? Because, frankly, nobody’s currently asking for a PlayStation6. Not developers, not publishers, not consumers, not right now and – by the look of things – not for a long while yet.

See, even a casual online stroll through related social media, forum threads and comment sections makes one thing abundantly clear: most gamers feel that the current PlayStation generation is just getting into its stride. After a three-and-a-half-year period full of remakes, remasters and cross-gen releases, it was fall 2023’s Spider-man 2 that marked the beginning of the PS5 era proper, being the first true AAA exclusive system seller for Sony’s latest system. There’ve only been two more such games since then, Astro Bot and Ghost of Yotei, so there’s much, much more that can be done in terms of software specifically designed for the PlayStation5.

More than that, though, the PS5 has now achieved what can only be described as “default gaming console” status: it offers the widest selection of titles, almost every single highly popular video game in existence and a number of third-party exclusives to more than 90 million consumers. With 2026 shaping up to be an extremely good year for the PlayStation5 and 2027 already looking quite interesting too – even without taking GTA VI into account, which will be a huge deal when it’s eventually released – PS5 players won’t be thinking of a next-generation system any time soon. Even people who feel they need a games console more powerful than the PS5 can now upgrade to the PS5 Pro, which is also expected to evolve this year.

All in all, this is one of those rare cases where consumers’ interests are actually aligned with a company’s best interests: the former are not in any hurry to upgrade what is currently a perfectly capable, dominant games console (not looking forward to paying up to $1000 for the privilege either), while the latter can comfortably (and quite profitably) wait, working in the background to put together a really, really good new product to sell at the best possible price when the time is right. Developers have a highly popular default platform to work on and publishers have a huge audience to target over the next few years. It’s a win-win for everyone involved, so Sony should take note and adjust its plans accordingly – if it hasn’t already, that is. Call it a… hunch, maybe?