PlayStation 6 & Next-Gen Xbox Face Possible Delay Amid DRAM Crisis

No one is safe from RAMmageddon, including gaming console manufacturers. According to a recent report, console manufacturers are debating whether next-gen devices should be delayed to post 2027-2028, breaking the common 7-year cadence between console generations. If the rumors circulating about next-generation consoles and their gratuitous allocations of VRAM are true, this makes sense and also means potentially huge increases in usually-subsidized early console prices. Even current-generation consoles are expected to receive price increases in 2026, and the silence on release date or pricing for the Steam Machine has been deafening indeed.

The DRAM shortage continues to worsen for the industry at large. Consumers are feeling the heat, PC builders and AIB GPU partners are deeply concerned, and prices for virtually all PC, smartphone, and console hardware is all but guaranteed to rise in 2026 and beyond. If the worst things said about this shortage are true and it extends for a decade, things are looking dire.


Memory isn't the only thing getting more expensive, either. NAND for SSDs is also becoming more expensive, and the GPU market is also directly impacted by DRAM supply. While pricing changes have been less impactful on those components so far, it's still not a good sign for any console or PC manufacturer, and it's an abysmal time to be DIYing your own gaming setup.

With all of that, plus the already-low overall console sales trends noted by Insider Gaming in its latest episode, it makes sense that the PlayStation 6 and its Xbox counterpart are being pushed out further into the future. Nintendo, of course, does what it wants and released the Switch and Switch 2 on its own schedule, and both have proven greatly successful, but given enough time, these conditions are sure to force price increases on Nintendo's handhelds, as well.