With the Nintendo Switch being such a runaway success, and having a successor console on the way, it looks like an old rival might be throwing their hat back into the ring. An insider report from Bloomberg states that Sony is looking to contend in the portable gaming market, and thus, are in the early stages of creating a new handheld device. Supposedly, the concept builds upon the PlayStation Portal, but would, "function as a standalone device like Valve Corp.’s Steam Deck". Bloomberg notes that the release of such a PlayStation-branded handheld would be "years away", or could never be fully realized.

The product is aimed at expanding Sony’s reach and contending with Nintendo Co. for the portable gaming market, according to people familiar with its development. It would also counter any potential mobile hardware from Xbox maker Microsoft Corp., which is working on prototypes in the category as well. Sony’s portable device is likely years away from launch and the company could still decide against bringing it to market, the people said, asking not to be named discussing private plans.

Source

 

[Scarlet]

Can't wait for them to abandon this one out of the gate too.

I'll never forgive them for what they did to the Vita, such wasted potential

 

[Deleted member 655123]

Hopefully it’s another attempt at the Vita.

 

[RAHelllord]

It's going to be another PlayStation Portal, but this time with the ability to stream your games via mobile data.
And maybe enough internal storage they'll allow you to buy and play PSP, PS1, and maybe Vita games offline on it.

Edit: The reason why I don't think it's going to be a "proper" Nintendo style handheld is the fact that a big part of the Switch's succeess was that Nintendo consolidated their mobile and home gaming dev divisions. Microsoft or Sony trying to actually recreate a Vita style split between home and mobile gaming would be much less profitable even if they are successes.
At best we'll get Sony PlayDeck, at worst another glorified Wii U gamepad.

 

[Naster]

In current stage of Playstation I can only imagine how disastrous it can be. I imagine a cheap-ass $50 phone with locked stream-only functionality.

 

[Purple_Shyguy]

Didn't they pull all 1st party support from the Vita after just 2 years?

Actually unforgivable and people tend to just either not remember or not even know this.

 

[Bladexdsl]

yeah like the last one they made that streaming POS!

 

[MasterJ360]

I don't think they can pull off another handheld. I mean they gotta come full force with exclusives otherwise the Switch2 will just be the better choice.

 

[The_Dizzy_Vizzy]

Well, like the article mentioned, MS is "supposedly" working on a handheld themselves, and I imagine that it will have the XBox branding on it. They know that this new handheld has to be more powerful and more functional than either the SteamDeck, the ROG Ally, and whatever the hell Nintendo is about to unleash, so Sony had better get there act together before they get their asses handed to them again. The handheld market is ABLOOM, so let's hope this alleged handheld its worth its weight in gold. Personally, I am interested in the MS console (that is of course, if it's real). Hopefully they will have studied ALL handheld gaming consoles and come up with something worth pining for. Just my 3 cents...

 

[DinohScene]

Come on Sony, call it the Vita 2, I dare you!

 

[titan_tim]

Cue the proprietary memory card and charging cable.

 

[Veho]

Sony’s portable device is likely years away from launch and the company could still decide against bringing it to market, the people said, asking not to be named discussing private plans.

Once upon a time when electronic components were expensive, developing a handheld device was a huge and complex task that involved teams of people and large budgets and commitment.

Nowadays when chipsets are really really cheap, and people make handheld consoles in their spare time for fun, I would be very very surprised if a large company like Sony didn't have a few people working on console prototypes at any given time. The operating clause is in the quote above. The difference between "developing" and actually "launching" a console is huge.

 

[ertaboy356b]

Can't wait for them to abandon this one out of the gate too.

I'll never forgive them for what they did to the Vita, such wasted potential

I won't miss that $40 PS TV this time around

 

[tech3475]

I wonder if they'll make it a smartphone? Kind of like the old Xperia Play.

 

[K3Nv4]

I wonder if they'll make it a smartphone? Kind of like the old Xperia Play.

Doubtful, they just saw valve and Asus success with them it'll probably be a 7" oled display, 24gb ddr5, custom rdna 2, 2280 m.2, vr capable to boost psvr2 sales, typical Playstation ui, cloud gaming to boat and like all the others. Vita XL.

 

[LoggerMan]

Sony still got the exclusives to justify it imo, and the back catalogue which presumably Microsoft is now free or obliged to publish the Sony back catalogue they now own on Sony consoles to appease anti monopoly laws.

 

[darksweet]

I hope it plays PS4 games

 

[LokeYourLord]

Doubtful, they just saw valve and Asus success with them it'll probably be a 7" oled display, 24gb ddr5, custom rdna 2, 2280 m.2, vr capable to boost psvr2 sales, typical Playstation ui, cloud gaming to boat and like all the others. Vita XL.

This is basically what I thought once I read the title, that they saw the success Valve and ASUS (maybe even throw Lenovo in the ring as well and some others) are having with their Handheld PCs, and just wanted a piece of the cake.

It will have a proprietary and locked down system though 100%, it won't be an unlocked system like the others I just mentioned where you can just install anything on it by default and even install a new OS on it if you want. It will be full of Sony's proprietary software (which is mostly built on Linux anyways) that'll run on that device.

And since a regular Playstation 5, or hell, even Playstation 5 Pro isn't really that powerful at the end of the day and can easily be crammed into such a handheld form factor these days, I can even imagine them outright just making it a PS5 Portable with the form factor of the SteamDeck/ASUS ROG Ally/etc.

EDIT: Now that I come to think of it, the likelihood of them basically just cramming a full on Playstation 5 into the handheld form factor of a SteamDeck/ROG Ally is actually extremely likely. They'll be adding some cloud streaming crap as well of course because they just have to sell their GaaS dogshit like all other companies these days, but it will without a doubt at least be as powerful as a Playstation 4 with the capability of streaming Playstation 5 games, or just an outright Playstation 5 Portable with the ability to stream some of the older generation titles.

 

[tech3475]

Doubtful, they just saw valve and Asus success with them it'll probably be a 7" oled display, 24gb ddr5, custom rdna 2, 2280 m.2, vr capable to boost psvr2 sales, typical Playstation ui, cloud gaming to boat and like all the others. Vita XL.

If they make it a Switch-esque handheld PS6, I'd expect something like a 720p target for local 'AAA' games and maybe a 2230 SSD or just rely on micro SD cards. I also doubt there will be PSVR2 support, presuming it's years down the line and that they still care, I'd expect a cheaper PSVR3 which is better optimised for this and probably cheaper to make/sell.

That said, I wonder if they'd also gimp this e.g. don't include TV output support to encourage PS6 sales.

 

[The Catboy]

Hopefully is uses standard MicroSD cards or it’s doomed off the bat