When you look at the most successful consoles of this generation, the base PS5 stands out — at launch it was incredible value, especially if you went digital, and it’s gone on to shift roughly 86 million units against Xbox’s 34 million. And if you look across the room at Xbox, for most of this generation the most successful console wasn’t the Series X — it was the Series S. As of 2022, roughly three-quarters of Xbox Series owners worldwide had the little S. It’s only recently, towards the end of the generation, that the X has clawed past it in cumulative sales. Either way, the lesson stands: there’s going to have to be a range of diverse price offerings for the next generation.
A lot of people are consumed by what the pricing is going to be for Project Helix. But on reflection, if we look at what the PS5 Pro is capable of, and we look ahead to what a Project Helix S is rumoured to be — leaks point to somewhere around 18 teraflops, which would edge out even the PS5 Pro — we have to ask ourselves: just how powerful do we need this console to be? Because these days, apart from the performance boosts, the reality is that consoles are at a point in their life where that power advantage is minuscule compared to what the consumer actually wants out of the product.
Take the Nintendo Switch 2. What’s making it so popular? It became the fastest-selling Nintendo hardware ever — 3.5 million units in just four days — yet developers say its GPU sits only slightly below a Series S, with a notably weaker CPU. It punches well above its weight. So is it down to optimisation, and how developers get the best out of their consoles? I think it is.
Seen that way, does the pricing of the next generation actually matter, when the games are going to run just fine on an entry-level console? I don’t think it does. Of course, if you’re a hardcore gamer, you’re going to want the best experience — the pro tier of console gaming. However, gaming trends are shifting, and wherever raw ‘power’ is truly needed, PC gaming is there. Then again, what if those rigs continue to get more expensive, and it actually makes more sense to invest in a Project Helix, depending on the hardware specification you want?
Interestingly, Microsoft has already confirmed Project Helix will be a family of devices for the next generation — a first-party console alongside partner-built handhelds — with the reasoning that “there is not one device that fits all.” Which suggests they’ve learned the same lesson. I really think there’s reason to believe that, depending on what both Xbox and Sony do, this could actually work out for the consumer. Everyone’s worrying — but even if demand isn’t as strong as before, and people continue to use their previous-generation console, the power upgrade this time simply isn’t as significant as it used to be. It’s going to come down to mid-settings versus high-settings. I think that’s where we’re going next generation, and I also believe the marketing for these products is going to have to be immaculate in its delivery.
As I’ve mentioned in past content, making a great product at a good price is going to factor into that too. It’ll be about the value proposition on offer, and what games each platform can bring to get people on board. Exclusivity surveys are going out left, right, and centre — that’s no coincidence — and I think the competition that comes from all of this can only be a good thing.
Written by Craig
From gaming industry headlines and entertainment, Craig covers the stories everyone's talking about — alongside his own published works.