The Subsequent Generation Of Gaming Is Going To Be Costly and Bizarre

Will the RAM Shortage Last Until 2030?

With a lot details about next-generation {hardware} popping out, normally that’d imply that new consoles and graphics playing cards are proper across the nook. But proper now, the RAM scarcity is throwing a wrench into that typical sequence of occasions.

Even only for PC gaming, the configuration I’d suggest to most individuals is 32GB of DDR5 RAM, simply to offer your self sufficient respiratory room. Last yr, a 32GB package of RAM might have price you round $100, however in 2026, the worth has ballooned. For occasion, the RAM I take advantage of to check {hardware}, a 32GB package of G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo, will set you again $489 on Newegg.

That can be unhealthy sufficient if this was only a momentary scarcity, however we’re most likely going to should strap ourselves in for the lengthy haul. As early as January, I used to be being advised that the scarcity would final by means of 2027, and it seems that was the optimistic take.

Instead, SK Hynix Chairman Chey Tae-won has prompt that the RAM scarcity may final by means of 2030, in keeping with a report from Reuters. If that holds true, {hardware} goes to trickle out at an especially gradual price for the following few years and it is going to be rather more costly than it in any other case can be.

To be clear, this is not simply going to impression gaming PCs. DRAM is required for all gaming {hardware}, so this may impression Xbox Project Helix and the Steam Machine as a lot as it would DIY PC builders.

Either new consoles and graphics playing cards are going to be delayed into oblivion, or they are going to be so costly that most individuals will not have the ability to purchase them. And, effectively, each choices form of suck!

The Xbox Project Helix Curveball

While all of this uncertainty has been cooking within the background, Microsoft got here out and gave some early data on the following Xbox, Project Helix. I’ve been saying for a yr now that the next-generation Xbox was most likely going to be a glorified PC, and it looks as if I used to be on to one thing. The subsequent Xbox will have the ability to run all your PC video games, which suggests it is working on some type of Windows 11 (or possibly even Windows 12?).

A yr in the past, when Phil Spencer first teased this strategy at Summer Games Fest, I used to be ecstatic. An Xbox that was additionally a gaming PC can be an effective way to create a kind of baseline for PC video games that builders may optimize their video games round. Incidentally, that’s additionally why I’m nonetheless wanting ahead to the Steam Machine. It doesn’t actually matter an excessive amount of to me how highly effective both of those containers are, as a result of the actual service is setting the baseline for what video games ought to have the ability to run on.

However, now that we’re in the course of this seemingly endless RAM disaster, a gaming PC / console hybrid appears extra like a legal responsibility than it did a yr in the past. If Microsoft desires this factor to run any PC recreation, it must be an open platform, similar to the Steam Machine. That’s certain to be nice information for anybody who buys it, nevertheless it additionally signifies that when it comes out, it’s going to be considerably dearer than a closed-off Xbox Series X followup in any other case can be.

That’s as a result of in a closed system like, say, the Xbox Series X, all recreation gross sales undergo Microsoft, which takes a minimize off the highest. That helps subsidize the price of the {hardware}, which is sometimes bought at a loss. A gaming console that additionally helps you to play video games by means of third-party shops received’t have that assure, so it’s far more doubtless that Microsoft will promote the {hardware} to make a direct revenue from it, making it dearer.

It’s nonetheless method too early to know what sort of {hardware} goes to be within the Helix-Box, however Microsoft made some lofty claims about its capabilities at GDC 2026 final week. Namely, that the brand new console goes to have the ability to benefit from Neural Rendering methods – very similar to DLSS 5, which debuted earlier this week.

Whatever Microsoft and AMD have cooking up in the best way of Neural Rendering, the following Xbox is probably going going to be a bit much less… excessive than what Nvidia confirmed off, however it doesn’t matter what it’s, it’s going to be demanding. That DLSS 5 demo, whether or not you like it or hate it, took up a variety of VRAM, needing two RTX 5090s to run it, in keeping with Digital Foundry. For context, one RTX 5090 has 32GB of GDDR7 video reminiscence, twice what’s discovered within the Xbox Series X, and that’s on high of system reminiscence.

If AI goes to be core to the following Xbox, it’s going to want some severe {hardware}, and with {hardware} costs being what they’re now, it’s very attainable that Project Helix goes to price upwards of $1,000. That’s a giant value to pay for a recreation console, and nearly $400 greater than the present base mannequin of the Series X.

Schrödinger’s Generation

With all of the rumors and product teases swirling across the web, it sort of feels like the following era of video games is correct across the nook. The tech is definitely there for it, however as an alternative of feeling assured that we’re going to see the following consoles by the tip of subsequent yr, it as an alternative looks like we’re in a {hardware} paradox and all of it comes all the way down to the RAM scarcity.

Thanks largely to the AI that’s going to play an enormous position in upcoming graphics know-how, the {hardware} that powers it’s dearer and scarce than ever earlier than. So, we’re in a holding sample, ready to see whether or not the costs are going to go down sufficient to make releasing new consoles and graphics playing cards at an inexpensive value goes to be attainable, or whether or not or not the producers are simply going to say screw it and launch extremely costly {hardware}.

The actuality is that it’s most likely going to land someplace within the center, with costly units which might be delayed just a few months. And, actually, I’ll be preserving my eye on the Steam Machine to offer a clearer image on what course issues will probably be leaning.

Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC elements queen. You can comply with her @Jackiecobra