Read my comment if you like speculation and future prediction.
It’s a bit too early to talk about this. First the Switch 2 will come out, then probably Steam Deck 2, then Xbox Portable and only then Sony is ready to release. At that point its already in the middle of the Switch 2’s life cycle and the market is full of handhelds. If Sony comes up with expensive prices again, it will be a tough sale (in the long run) and it ends up being a similar failure (for units sold) like the Vita.
The Playstation Portal just streams and is already 200 Dollar. It’s basically a tablet with controllers attached to it, but less capable. If Sony goes the route of Apple and markets the Playstation Handheld as a premium device for hardcore fans, then do not expect it being cheaper than 500, around same price as the original PS5. I hope Sony will surprise me.
Fooled me with Vita, not gonna fool me again. I still remember that they tried to brick any non-modded device by cutting PS Store support.
As someone who adored the PSP back in the day… Sony will f this up.
Third time’s the charm, eh?
Oh, is it time for Sony to self-sabotage again?
Eh. They’ve been great at that but I dont see this as it. Handheld stuff is cool and popular right now. Don’t get me wrong, they definitely could self sabotage here. They 100% did with the vita and their egregiously expensive memory cards…
But the PSP and Vita were great devices aside from that. I could see this working
Vita was technically impressive, far more capable than the DS. I’ve got an OLED Vita and I’m amazed how nice it still looks.
But the Vita inevietably lost to Nintendo because it struggled with popularity, and therefore struggled with number of games made for it. It’s a catch 22.
If Sony can make a portable that plays all your PS5 library (without needing to buy any of it again) then they might actually be on a winner.
The Vita was a 3DS competitor, not a DS competitor. They kind of tried to outgimmick Nintendo with this one, unsuccessfully, I might add, because they didn’t build the system around these features, but slapped them on in such a way that developers and players could just ignore them.
The PS5 controller is somewhat of a descendant of this device, although its features are a bit better supported - and it would be trivially easy to integrate them into a handheld.
As for processing power, they need to find a way to get the same CPU power as a base PS5 and enough GPU power for somewhere around 1080p (since going any lower would render many games designed for the home console unplayable) into a cost-, heat, space- and power-efficient package. Most of this work is on AMD, Sony just has to package it. Maybe they can get away with a system that simply forces a lower output resolution for existing games so that less GPU power is needed - or they wait long enough for it to be possible to miniaturize a full-fat PS5 into a portable device. I think the latter is unlikely though, at least within a time frame that would allow for a PS5P to coexist with the PS5 instead of the PS6.
It’s an ongoing process.
I’d go with a PS4 based handheld, easier to miniaturize with today’s tech, should have lower TDP etc
Microsoft has the Edge here (see what I did?) when it comes to handheld, because they already have a weaker hardware that games on Xbox must be able to run, the Series S. This baseline could be used as a handheld compatibility (at least from performance perspective). Sony on the other hand has a monster console and no weaker version of it. So there is much more and longer to developer. For the coming years, I’m not convinced Sony would be capable of doing that. Also imagine the price it would have.
I don’t think Sony wants a PS4 handheld while Microsoft has the newer generation Series S based handheld. Sony wants to sell new games, not the old one.
Already do remote play through my phone with a backbone, so this would just give me a bigger screen, I guess
If all you want to do is remote play, the PlayStation Portal is already out and well received.
The Portal was definitely not well received. It was a marketing disaster and an embarrassment.
But it only works in the same wifi.
