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Do you think both companies should cut the cost of the consoles by redesigning the consoles so they can produce more?

Derktron

Banned
It's right there in the title, do you think both companies should cut the cost of the consoles in order to meet the major demand both have? Rumors have it that Sony might redesign the PS5 to cut the cost and try and meet the demand of the console.

This is a quote from the article. "Totoki did suggest that Sony may be able to cope with the shortage by either finding a secondary resource to manufacture its consoles with or by even going as far as "changing the design" of the machine in order to circumvent the issue."

For me, I think it needs to be done but the question is how much would they cut out in order to meet demands if they ever plan to restructure the PS5 (& maybe the Series X/S?) -- This is going to be very interesting if Sony does do a restructure of the PS5. I think it's way too damn big and maybe that is why they are having issues. I don't know I'm tired of waiting to get a PS5 and I'm up to the point of getting one on Ebay.

thoughts?
 

NikuNashi

Member
I don't understand, cut the cost of PS5 as in lower the end price? Of a console that has millions of people chomping at the bit to even get a chance of buying at the current price. Or do you mean cut the production time cost to make it easier to manufacture?
 

bender

What time is it?
How is redesigning the console going to change anything with a semiconductor shortage?

It will not. Speculation has most shortages through mid-2022 and if we are lucky, backlogs will be cleared by 2023 for a return to normalcy.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
How is redesigning the console going to change anything with a semiconductor shortage?
Maybe if its feasible this early into the game, they can redesign the circuit board to be smaller and get rid of chips. Like a slim model already, or Genesis and PS systems 5 years later which were half the size.
 

Derktron

Banned
Woosh people get uptight over this? Lol this comes from Sony themselves not some random thought. Read the article. Shit is getting so fucking bad that Sony can't keep up with the demands and that is why they said what they said and the fact that it was even thought makes me think that if things don't get better we will see a redesign real soon. It's not taboo if they do it, it's a necessity to do it if push comes to shove.
 

RoboFu

One of the green rats
Nah but yes the ps5 will have a major design change at some point later in its life for sure.
 

Derktron

Banned
Nah but yes the ps5 will have a major design change at some point later in its life for sure.
No shit but how soon will that come if Sony can't keep up with demand, the demand is there and the fact that Sony even said that sure says a lot. Now people are jumping to conclusions where it could be a slim and yeah you are correct too soon. For me, I could see a short size of the original PS5 to cut the cost.
 
The production bottleneck is at the semi-custom AMD SoC used by these consoles. They are produced by TSMC, who are so production constrained that they are telling their biggest and most profitable customer (Apple) they cannot supply what the customer is asking for right now.

I would like to ask some of the goddamn geniuses here how they plan on asking Sony and MS to redesign the console to remove the SoC.
 
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StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Nah but yes the ps5 will have a major design change at some point later in its life for sure.
Totally. Whats the usual trend for slim redesign lately? About 3 years into a generation? If we go by that, Series systems and PS5 will get a new look in fall 2023.
 
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Cohetedor

Member
It might not just be a semiconductor shortage. I'm guessing it might also be material shortage for the case. Plastic resin prices have doubled or tripled in the last six months and some are just no longer available. Could be why they say they have options, to source substitutions or maybe redesign the case.
 
They should be making them cheaper and selling them at a higher price. There is NOTHING available currently.
Why are the prices of these things not going up? I don't understand it. Why are scalpers the new retailers?
I got my Series X from BestBuy. I ordered it online drove to the store and some girl brought it out to my car.
What did Bestbuy get out of it? What incentive did the retailer of Bestbuy get from that transaction? I didn't even browse the store for games and accessories or a new toaster oven.
I do not understand the mindset of retailers currently. They should have sold that Series X for a higher price and/or bundled it with tons of games and accessories.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
They should be making them cheaper and selling them at a higher price. There is NOTHING available currently.
Why are the prices of these things not going up? I don't understand it. Why are scalpers the new retailers?
I got my Series X from BestBuy. I ordered it online drove to the store and some girl brought it out to my car.
What did Bestbuy get out of it? What incentive did the retailer of Bestbuy get from that transaction? I didn't even browse the store for games and accessories or a new toaster oven.
I do not understand the mindset of retailers currently. They should have sold that Series X for a higher price and/or bundled it with tons of games and accessories.
Because when it comes to electronics, you typically dont jack up prices. Prices will start high and eventually trickle down. Selling the system for $800 to max out profit and then drop it to $500 when supply gets back in line wouldnt sit well for the early adopters.

The price has been set for PS5/Series X at $500 US. That's the max it'll be from them.
 

Zannegan

Member
What? No.

I'm sure they'd like to sell more, but market hunger can be a good thing too. It's certainly not going to be worth all the R&D for them to redesign into an inferior version of their product which the market might then reject.
 
I don't understand this, do you think they could make more consoles with the less amount of resources? This seems to be what you are asking. If that was possible, then they would already be doing it. They are a business after all. They are run in order to make money.
 

nush

Gold Member
How is redesigning the console going to change anything with a semiconductor shortage?

Vacuum tubes Mr smarty pants.

back-to-the-future-delorean_786x442.jpg
 
I don't understand this, do you think they could make more consoles with the less amount of resources? This seems to be what you are asking. If that was possible, then they would already be doing it. They are a business after all. They are run in order to make money.
I mean it will eventually happen but that tend to happens years down the roas.
 

Fredrik

Member
Scalpers will likely try messing that up as well and I don’t want a cut back PS5 version, I have no idea how they can fix this but it’s a huge problem and I refuse to buy one for scalper prices. It sucks.

But honestly, I have other things to play, I’ll survive, just means that I’ll focus on PC, Quest 2 and Xbox Series X until it’s sorted out.
 

Mokus

Member
Woosh people get uptight over this? Lol this comes from Sony themselves not some random thought. Read the article. Shit is getting so fucking bad that Sony can't keep up with the demands and that is why they said what they said and the fact that it was even thought makes me think that if things don't get better we will see a redesign real soon. It's not taboo if they do it, it's a necessity to do it if push comes to shove.
Could you give us a link where Sony officials are actually talking about redesigning the PS5? Otherwise the article it's basically a retarded click bait for people like you to read it.

Redesigning the console for better production, would mean cutting down big time the APU die size (the main reason for the shortage). Even with 50% size reduction so you could double the PS5 production, would mean that this next gen console won't be able to do basic 1080p, RT, etc. And games that are already out won't be compatible with it without serios downgrading.
 
lol no.

we'll get redesigned/cost reduced consoles in 2023 probably. i'm sure Sony + MS are quite happy that every console they ship is selling out in minutes. you could argue that they are interested in people buying games on those consoles (which scalpers won't do) but all those consoles will get into the hands of gamers soon or later. eventually there will be enough consoles to go around for everyone. as that starts to happen scalpers will desparately drop prices to shift console and claw back their money. so that will only help too.

Sony + MS are making crazy $ right now so it'd be stupid for them to do anything that would go against that. for us we just need to be patient. it's not the end of the world if you don't get a console right now. there's not many games worth buying anyway. so hold off and refuse to pay the scalper prices. when there are more than a few games worth playing you'll be able to get a console easily. PS4 didn't really take off until like 2015 and it seems it'll be the same for PS5. i'll get a PS5 in a couple years :)
 
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Trimesh

Banned
I don't think there is much excess complexity to cut down on in either of these consoles, though - I suspect the BOM cost is dominated by the APU, RAM and flash. It's not like the original CECHA PS3 that was obviously overcomplex - these both look like fairly highly cost optimized designs anyway. The PS5 with it's single board design is probably slightly more cost-optimized than the XSX.
 
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