Earlier, we dropped the story of how the internet was set ablaze by a comment made by Sony’s CEO. Something that did go under the radar was a report that was rather dire. Price increases have hit all sectors of the tech community. Everything from personal computers, mobile devices to video game consoles. Prices have risen in some astronomical ways. At the end of the current generation, Sony and Microsoft are pitted between a rock and a hard place. A prediction about what is the PlayStation 6 and Microsoft’s Project Helix both sold for $1000.

A new report by Ampere Analysis, reported by Kotaku, predicts the install base for those next-gen consoles could end up being 38 percent smaller. That is if the hardware is priced at $1,000.

“The economics of console gaming have changed significantly,” Ampere senior research director Piers Harding-Rolls wrote in the August 18 report. “If Sony and Microsoft take conventionally designed, incrementally improved consoles to market at substantially higher prices, our forecasts suggest they risk reducing the addressable audience for the next generation.”

$1000-Plus Consoles Could See Major Losses

He predicts roughly 39 million fewer PS6s and Project Helix Xboxes will be sold over their first five years. That is if the hardware comes to market priced at $1,000 rather than $700. The forecast also predicts a roughly 12-percent drop in player spending over the first three years of the next console generation if prices skyrocket upward. That’s a difference of about $3.4 billion.

The report outlines three possible scenarios to avoid a lost console generation. The first is to delay the launch of the PS6 and Project Helix past their rumored 2028 window. That is until component costs have come down a bit. There isn’t even a guarantee of that. The second is to subsidize hardware prices more aggressively. Sony and Microsoft would essentially eat the higher costs to keep the install base growing. The third option is to “substantially innovate” rather than just relying on more power to push graphical fidelity.

The good news is that at least both console makers will be facing pressure from the soon-to-be-$500 Switch 2. Nintendo opted for innovation over power decades ago and it’s now yielded the most affordable console on the market, one that hasn’t had to compromise too much on the quality of its games.

The bigger question is if it hits the $1000 mark, at what point will their base thinking about opting for a PC? Some people in the comments are posing the same question, but as casual gamer may not opt for the PC and just fork over the extra cash to play GTA Online.