The Red Barrel Report

Yeah, we’re all shocked by the PS5 Pro’s price. Who wouldn’t be? But what’s more shocking is that the base model’s price has increased in Japan.

Consoles should get cheaper as a generation ages, but not this time around. It’s logical to blame it on AI and its massive hunger for compute. That’s probably right, but there’s an existential problem looming.

With Microsoft bowing out as a serious competitor in the hardware race – though, as Matt says, they may well launch another Xbox – Sony has the field all to itself (Nintendo, as ever, is doing its own thing).

Apart from the consumer danger a monopoly or near-monopoly brings, there’s a problem for Sony. If everyone starts gaming on the digital devices they already have, like phones, tablets and laptops, it gets harder to sell consoles. Epecially eye-wateringly expensive consoles with terrible industrial design and questionable consumer benefits.

Which might make Microsoft look all the smarter for concentrating on cloud gaming, online services and publishing deals.