Shawn Layden Questions Whether Consumers Will Pay $1,000 for Next-Gen Consoles
Layden's doubt lands against Circana's July 2026 U.S. hardware data, where the average selling price rose 16% year over year to $542 while unit sales fell 39%, leaving console makers to justify price through appeal rather than raw performance.
Reporting from 1 source: Game Spark.
Former SIE Worldwide Studios chairman Shawn Layden said in an interview on the YouTube channel The Expansion Pass that he doubts consumers will spend $1,000 on a next-generation console for nothing more than better ray tracing or higher teraflops. He compared the original PlayStation to PS2 shift with VHS to DVD, and said later generational leaps have grown more gradual.
Layden prefaced the answer by saying he has not spoken with Sony or Xbox designers or engineers and does not know their development roadmaps. His comparison point was the jump from the original PlayStation to the PS2, which he likened to VHS to DVD: a difference large enough that going back was not an option. He said the curve of progress between generations has since flattened, and asked whether making things faster and more colorful still works as a differentiator. He also pointed to the automobile industry, where performance gains eventually gave way to advances in other areas, and said console innovation should not be only about computing power.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.