I love the idea of a focused smaller form factor, but I just don't think this is matching what I'd expect in terms of price to value ratio. I can compromise a bit on size and get a more capable PC for the same price by building my own, with it still being small enough to be "console sized". Quite frankly, they just didn't need to push it this small to have a competitive product, and I think they're paying for that now. I mean, just look at it - half the size of a Series X which is already the smaller of the consoles? It was not necessary to go that far with the miniaturization.
They'd have done better to focus on the software and looked to use more commodity parts rather than custom ones.
@JJtheTexan the answer is that hardware prices are not going to keep climbing, and demand should level off sooner than large amounts of new manufacturing capacity would be able to pay for themselves, so it isn't really something that makes sense to invest heavily in. The world is not going to be collectively spending a trillion dollars a year on datacenter buildouts forever, that is being done in service of capacity commitments that are on the order of 10 years long.
@Darren1967 the valuation bubble may well burst but that is not going to fix the hardware demand issues. I do not see the actual demand for inference going away - at best maybe the demand for compute to train ever-better models will level off, but much of this demand is for inference and I don't think a popping of AI valuation will lower the hardware demand.
The big spike in component demand will level off naturally as datacenter capacity scales up to demand. They are not going to be in purchase cycles like this every year, and once this capacity is all in service it is going to be replaced more gradually/more spread-out over time. So this will pass, the question is simply how soon.
@WaveMaster I think this is less about a "yearly upgrade" and more of a case of the supply chain having caught up such that they can do an OLED screen. I'm not expecting this to continue each year though maybe I'm wrong.
It seems like an odd choice to shape the controller this way. I would think Microsoft is trying to give the impression that cloud gaming is serious. This makes it look very un-serious indeed, as if it is meant only for "simpler" games that require less complexity or precision in input, and are played in shorter spurts.
The only thing I can think of is this is designed to be distributed "for free" with all sorts of hardware that is otherwise uninterested in gaming (smart TVs, streaming sticks, etc) as a way to encourage adoption by making sure everyone at least has some form of controller handy.
@MattGPT just as a company will charge a price that reflects what makes them the most money, not what it costs to manufacture - so to should a consumer agree to pay a price that reflects what value they put on the product, not what it costs to manufacture.
It's going to be harder for Sony or anyone else to deliver a $400-500 console than it has been in a long time. But that does not mean the people who think more than that is too much are being unreasonable.
The whole of the business model is based around subsidizing hardware and keeping prices reasonable to reclaim it later with software sales. And the premise of that model has for years hinged on the fact that as time marches on, the cost to manufacture technology goes down. Now suddenly that is no longer true - but should consumers accept that that means significant price increases are inevitable, or is it up to the companies to pivot their model to keep it viable in light of the change?
As pointed out in the video, Apple has managed to keep price flat on at least some of their phones. And in fact they just delivered their most affordable laptop computer yet. So these things are possible to do. Obviously Apple has the benefit of an economy of scale that is unmatched, but in many ways Sony is (or strives to be) the Apple of the gaming industry. So personally I'm going to hold them to living up to that. If they want to launch a very pricy PS6 for enthusiasts, more power to them. But I expect them to deliver a more affordable option as well. Perhaps Microsoft had the right idea after all, what with launching the affordable model at the same time as the more powerful one.
@themightyant I think you're right - if the intent was to continue with the existing strategy then I expect they'd have promoted Sarah Bond. Just by virtue of who they chose to hire, they are communicating intent to pivot. We just don't yet know how.
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Re: Sony Kills Physical PS5 Games, Starting in January 2028: A Gigantic Hint That PS6 Will Be "Adorably All-Digital"
> for the foreseeable future
important time to remind that companies "forsee the future" in about 3 month increments.
Re: Review: Steam Machine: Beautiful Hardware, Console Performance - At A Price
I love the idea of a focused smaller form factor, but I just don't think this is matching what I'd expect in terms of price to value ratio. I can compromise a bit on size and get a more capable PC for the same price by building my own, with it still being small enough to be "console sized". Quite frankly, they just didn't need to push it this small to have a competitive product, and I think they're paying for that now. I mean, just look at it - half the size of a Series X which is already the smaller of the consoles? It was not necessary to go that far with the miniaturization.
They'd have done better to focus on the software and looked to use more commodity parts rather than custom ones.
Re: Xbox Memo Predicts over 5x Increase in Storage and Memory Costs by Holiday 2027
@JJtheTexan the answer is that hardware prices are not going to keep climbing, and demand should level off sooner than large amounts of new manufacturing capacity would be able to pay for themselves, so it isn't really something that makes sense to invest heavily in. The world is not going to be collectively spending a trillion dollars a year on datacenter buildouts forever, that is being done in service of capacity commitments that are on the order of 10 years long.
Re: Xbox Memo Predicts over 5x Increase in Storage and Memory Costs by Holiday 2027
@Darren1967 the valuation bubble may well burst but that is not going to fix the hardware demand issues. I do not see the actual demand for inference going away - at best maybe the demand for compute to train ever-better models will level off, but much of this demand is for inference and I don't think a popping of AI valuation will lower the hardware demand.
The big spike in component demand will level off naturally as datacenter capacity scales up to demand. They are not going to be in purchase cycles like this every year, and once this capacity is all in service it is going to be replaced more gradually/more spread-out over time. So this will pass, the question is simply how soon.
Re: Asus ROG Xbox Ally X20 and MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ PC handhelds announced at Computex
@WaveMaster I think this is less about a "yearly upgrade" and more of a case of the supply chain having caught up such that they can do an OLED screen. I'm not expecting this to continue each year though maybe I'm wrong.
Re: Photos of Microsoft's Xbox Cloud Gaming Controller Have Leaked Online Via Brazil
It seems like an odd choice to shape the controller this way. I would think Microsoft is trying to give the impression that cloud gaming is serious. This makes it look very un-serious indeed, as if it is meant only for "simpler" games that require less complexity or precision in input, and are played in shorter spurts.
The only thing I can think of is this is designed to be distributed "for free" with all sorts of hardware that is otherwise uninterested in gaming (smart TVs, streaming sticks, etc) as a way to encourage adoption by making sure everyone at least has some form of controller handy.
Re: How Much Would You Pay For PlayStation 6?
@MattGPT just as a company will charge a price that reflects what makes them the most money, not what it costs to manufacture - so to should a consumer agree to pay a price that reflects what value they put on the product, not what it costs to manufacture.
It's going to be harder for Sony or anyone else to deliver a $400-500 console than it has been in a long time. But that does not mean the people who think more than that is too much are being unreasonable.
The whole of the business model is based around subsidizing hardware and keeping prices reasonable to reclaim it later with software sales. And the premise of that model has for years hinged on the fact that as time marches on, the cost to manufacture technology goes down. Now suddenly that is no longer true - but should consumers accept that that means significant price increases are inevitable, or is it up to the companies to pivot their model to keep it viable in light of the change?
As pointed out in the video, Apple has managed to keep price flat on at least some of their phones. And in fact they just delivered their most affordable laptop computer yet. So these things are possible to do. Obviously Apple has the benefit of an economy of scale that is unmatched, but in many ways Sony is (or strives to be) the Apple of the gaming industry. So personally I'm going to hold them to living up to that. If they want to launch a very pricy PS6 for enthusiasts, more power to them. But I expect them to deliver a more affordable option as well. Perhaps Microsoft had the right idea after all, what with launching the affordable model at the same time as the more powerful one.
Re: Xbox Under New Management - But What Can Actually Change?
@themightyant I think you're right - if the intent was to continue with the existing strategy then I expect they'd have promoted Sarah Bond. Just by virtue of who they chose to hire, they are communicating intent to pivot. We just don't yet know how.