Close your eyes and remember the feeling. Christmas morning, or maybe a birthday. The box is heavier than you expected. You tear through the packaging and there it is: that new console you’ve been asking for, with some new games and a controller waiting to learn the shape of your hands. For several generations of gamers, that moment was almost spiritual.
I didn’t fully appreciate how special those moments were back then. Now it’s looking like the next generation of gamers will never get to have that experience. The saddest part is that some people couldn’t care less.
The AI Boom Ate Our RAM
Since October 2025, RAM manufacturers have been hoarding supply for massive AI data centers. OpenAI’s expansion kicked off a domino effect, pushing memory prices to triple, maybe even quadruple, their old rates. Lenovo’s CEO warned investors this “structural imbalance” isn’t a short‑term thing. At this rate, the PlayStation 6 will cost as much as a used car engine.
Speaking of the PS6, a Bloomberg report (paywalled) states that Sony is thinking of pushing the release of their next console to 2028, maybe even 2029 at the latest. Meanwhile, Nintendo might raise the price of their $450 Switch 2 due to rising component costs.
How Are Gamers Reacting to the News?
While gaming companies pull their hair out over the unexpected wrench AI has thrown into their plans, the community have been surprisingly chill about the news.
Of course, a lot of people are pissed about the way AI’s memory needs are impacting the industry. But no one is losing sleep over these rumors. The PS5, Xbox Series X, even the old Switch still work. Each console has a large library filled with both older games and new releases.
That’s the thing nobody at Sony or Nintendo wants to admit: their older consoles are good enough for their audience.
The idea of buying a new console isn’t giving us the dopamine hits they used to. The average player has a backlog of games they’ve never played or they’re obsessed with their old standbys like Fortnite, Stardew Valley or replaying Elden Ring.
Factor in the cost of living crisis spreading throughout the planet, expensive subscriptions and growing disgust with how the industry’s business practices have led to mass layoffs. Why would a gamer spend nearly a grand on a new console when the games you actually play run just fine on the hardware you already own?
The Console Wars Are Over
And it’s not because anyone won either.
For decades, gaming was tribal. You were a PlayStation kid, an Xbox loyalist, or a die‑hard Nintendo defender. Your console wasn’t just hardware. It was your identity. Exclusives were used as proof that one console was better than the other. Specs were bragging rights.
But this RAM crisis feels like the final nail in the coffin. The old loyalties are fading because the walls between ecosystems have cracked. Microsoft was the first to break formation, putting its exclusives on PC through Game Pass. Most PlayStation games eventually make their way to PC. Xbox’s Game Pass lets you play new games on launch day. Nintendo lives in its own cheerful orbit, untouched by the fighting. And handheld PCs like the Steam Deck have smudged the old borders completely.
Players jump between platforms without guilt, because what matters most is playing the games they love. When people stop arguing over which box is best and start focusing on accessibility, comfort, and connecting with their friends, the “war” becomes irrelevant. The memory chaos that should’ve set the gaming world on fire has instead united gamers in the art of not caring.
The next generation will still come, eventually. When it does, it’ll just be another way to play, in a world that no longer needs a rivalry to make gaming feel alive.
