PS6 Watch: The PlayStation 6’s Memory Alone Reportedly Costs Sony “Over $680” Per Console

Welcome to PS6 Watch, where we keep tabs on everything floating around about Sony’s next console until it’s actually real. Fair warning: almost none of this is official yet. We’ll tell you what’s a rumour, what’s a credible report, and what Sony has actually said.

First up, the bit that’s going to hurt your wallet. According to AMD hardware insider KeplerL2, the PlayStation 6’s memory and storage alone now cost Sony “over $680” USD per console. Not the whole console. Just the RAM and the SSD.

What was actually said

• The claim (rumour): in a NeoGAF post on 16 October, someone floated a $680 PS6 sold at a loss. KeplerL2 replied: “RAM + NAND alone is over $680”. VGC picked it up on 18 October, and Kotaku followed, rounding the headline up to “more than $700”.
• Why: according to VGC, Kepler says those parts cost far less when Sony locked in the design. Since then, AI data centres have been hoovering up the world’s memory and storage chips, and prices have gone through the roof.
• The earlier estimates (rumour): Kepler put the PS6’s total bill of materials at about US$760 back in March. In June he said it had gone up “another ~$200”. He’s also the source of the specs doing the rounds: about 40 TFLOPS for the PS6, roughly 56 for Microsoft’s next Xbox (Project Helix), 30GB of GDDR7, and both chips “taped out” (the designs are finished).
• Sony: no comment.

Who’s KeplerL2? A forum poster with a decent record on AMD hardware leaks. VGC describes them as having “accurately reported on AMD hardware in the past”. They aren’t Sony, though, so pinch of salt.

What Sony has officially said

• No date or price. CEO Hiroki Totoki, May 2026: “We have not yet decided on at what timing we will launch the new console or at what prices.”
• No big losses on hardware. June 2026 investor meeting: “As a principle, we do not intend to sell hardware at significant losses.” So don’t expect Sony to swallow that memory bill for you.
• Memory stays expensive. Sony told investors memory will stay tight and expensive through 2027, and PS5 production depends on how much it can get at reasonable prices.
• The tech is coming. In October 2025, Mark Cerny and AMD showed off “Project Amethyst” (neural networks for upscaling, ray tracing hardware, better compression) and said it’s headed for “a future console, in a few years time”.
• Discs are ending. In July, Sony said new PlayStation games will stop shipping on disc from January 2028. It hasn’t said anything about whether the PS6 itself will have a disc drive.

What it could cost here

Nobody knows yet, but the trend is grim. The PS5 has gone up in price, not down, which is backwards for a console this deep into its life. After April’s increase, a standard PS5 is NZ$1,199.95 (A$999.95) and a PS5 Pro is NZ$1,619.95 (A$1,399.95).

Analysts quoted by VGC think next-gen consoles might not arrive until 2028, and when they do, “north of a grand is the floor”. That’s in US dollars. Newzoo reckons a base model could still squeak in under US$999 “for psychological and marketing reasons”. Earlier reports aimed the PS6 at 2027, but the memory crunch has thrown that into doubt.

Microsoft is in the same boat. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has said memory costs “will impact pricing, will impact availability” for Project Helix. She also said memory and storage are now about half of what a console costs to build.

Our take

Let’s be clear: this is one forum post from one insider, and it’s a snapshot of today’s memory prices for a console that probably won’t ship for another year or two. Prices could come down by then. They could also get worse.

But everything Sony has said publicly points the same way. It won’t take big losses on hardware, it says memory stays expensive through 2027, and it has spent two years putting the PS5’s price up. Add the parts cost on top and it’s hard to see a PS6 launching at anything you’d call a normal console price. In NZ and AU, where we already pay more than nearly anyone, a PS6 for over two grand doesn’t sound crazy any more. Meanwhile, the AI companies blowing all this money on data centres get to keep their GPUs while gamers pay for it. Cheers for that.

We’ll keep tracking every leak, report and official word in PS6 Watch. Follow the PlayStation 6 page to see the lot in one place.

What’s the most you’d pay for a PS6? Tell us your number in the comments, or come and cry about RAM prices with us in the GetRekt Discord.

Sources

• Kotaku: The PlayStation 6’s memory components alone could cost more than $700
• VGC: PlayStation 6’s memory costs alone exceed $680 per console, it’s claimed
• NeoGAF: KeplerL2’s post (16 Oct)
• IBTimes: Sony says PS6 timing and price not decided (May 2026)
• IBTimes: Sony won’t sell hardware at significant losses (June 2026)
• Wccftech: Mark Cerny and AMD on Project Amethyst
• Game File: Sony ending disc releases from 2028
• PlayStation Blog: PS5 price changes (March 2026)
• GamesNight: PS5 NZ prices rising again
• GamingBolt: Asha Sharma on memory costs and Project Helix