Worried About PS6 Prices? Next Xbox Could Cost as Much as $1,800

Regardless of how well they run games or how much they improve visuals, discussion around the next-generation PS6 and Xbox Helix will almost certainly center on their pricing.

Video game technology has reached a stage where graphical advances are no longer so striking, forcing manufacturers to justify the next console investment in other ways. An investment of up to $1,800, however, is a completely different matter.

A new report from Fortune claims Microsoft has internally projected the Xbox Helix to cost anywhere between $1,200 and $1,800. The company may choose to subsidize the system to lower its price, though no decision appears to have been made on that front yet.

Fortune also reports that the Xbox Helix is slated for a 2028 launch, and that next year it will offer a “next-generation handheld device” on the market. Microsoft previously partnered with Asus to release the ROG Xbox Ally handheld system, but that device was not entirely built in-house. It remains unclear whether the outlet is referring to another such system or something Microsoft develops entirely on its own.

Rumors consistently suggest that Sony also has a handheld device planned to accompany its eventual PS6 console. That machine has likewise been rumored to cost more than $1,000, with the latest reports indicating that, amid the current component shortage, the PS6’s RAM and SSD alone are costing Sony over $680.

There has been speculation that the PS6 will not be quite as powerful as the Xbox Helix, yet even with less power, Sony’s next machine still appears to carry a price tag above $1,000.

Just yesterday, we polled Push Square users with a simple question: would you pay $1,000 for a PS6? Of more than 4,700 votes, 65% cast a “no, I refuse to pay that much for a console” response.

Sony appears to face a genuine uphill battle in convincing players of its PS6 proposition and pricing. At least it won’t be $1,800, right? Well… let’s hope not.