Report: The PS5's Manufacturing Cost Is Enormous

Hoping that the PS5 might hit the $499 mark or something nice and affordable in Australia? You might want to park those hopes, with a new Bloomberg report revealing that the cost of materials for the PS5 has skyrocketed.

Sources have told Bloomberg's technology vertical that the manufacturing cost for the PlayStation 5 have risen to "around $US450 per unit", which is $669 in local currency. That puts Sony in an enormous world of pain, considering the PS4's estimated manufacturing cost was $US381, compared to its original launch price of $US399.

If Sony were to make a profit on each console sold, the cost of the PS5 would be enormous - $699 in Australian terms, or even higher factoring in expenses from shipping and distribution. The other alternative for Sony is to book a loss on each console sold, recouping the money through services, like the PlayStation Plus subscription that is effectively mandatory these days given the online-only nature of most games.

One of the biggest problems is supply, with NAND flash memory and DRAM becoming supremely difficult to come by.

The Bloomberg report also includes the nice nugget that a "new version of the PlayStation VR" headset would be released "after the PlayStation 5" was released. Given the PS5 wouldn't launch until the Christmas holidays, likely in November, that means it'd be likely that a PSVR follow up would be released in 2021.

You can read more details over at Bloomberg Technology.