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

 

[B05SxBrennan]

People can't pocket a switch or handheld pc, making them bad home consoles.

I love the Switch but the lack of a pocket-friendly form factor makes it feel more like "home console you can take with you" than a traditional handheld.

 

[THYPLEX]

Hopefully backwards compatible with PSVita and PSP games!

Post automatically merged: Nov 25, 2024

Price has no limits

Saiyans have no limits !
Let's charge them together at full Power !!

 

[Hippocampus_Hamster]

If they have a strong backing for it,
If they actually support it long-term,
If they don't leave it dangling in the wind after launch...

Too many if's. Sony's burned us handheld player too many times. Between their limp-wristed treatment of the PSP to the polar-opposite on the Vita (right up until they abandoned it entirely), Sony has proven that if it isn't a mainline console they don't care about it.

 

[ChronosNotashi]

If they have a strong backing for it,
If they actually support it long-term,
If they don't leave it dangling in the wind after launch...

Too many if's. Sony's burned us handheld player too many times. Between their limp-wristed treatment of the PSP to the polar-opposite on the Vita (right up until they abandoned it entirely), Sony has proven that if it isn't a mainline console they don't care about it.

You forgot one more "if":

If it manages to actually come close to matching Nintendo's or other big names' successes in no more than half the time.

Which isn't happening, because everything Sony's done to try to mimic those successes fail to understand why those successes happened in the first place. In the case of Nintendo's successes, it's often because Nintendo finds a blue ocean market (or provides a quality product in a low-quality market, in the case of NES/SNES Classic versus the bootleg mini consoles), whereas Sony has often attempted to dominate in red oceans, and has went into the "blue oceans" with more or less a "red ocean" gameplan that relies on too many factors playing into their favor without any real effort needed on their end (i.e. the Playstation Classic tried to rely on brand name and old console popularity, and failed primarily due to the higher price tag, lack of console-selling titles, and use of PAL versions / poor emulation in general).

 

[Dark_Ansem]

It will only cost like 500 with no games at launch

 

[ZeroT21]

Psp = PlayStation Portable? PlayStation Portal? Bet the next one is gonna be called ''PlayStation Potato'' at this point

 

[kijetesantakalu042]

Psp = PlayStation Portable? PlayStation Portal? Bet the next one is gonna be called ''PlayStation Potato'' at this point

Psp = Playstation pocket

 

[Robert Newbie]

I don't know... I have this feeling that Sony saturned their users with the PS Vita and then dreamcasted them with the PS5... I can only expect that they will either ouya their customers with a future handheld console, or even worse they might pull a stadia on them.

You cant just use names like verbs that many times!

Hang on, I speak this language.

@sarkwalvein stated that, "I do not know... I have this feeling like Sony made poor design decisions concerning their console and disappointed their users with the PS Vita and then underdelivered, overpriced, and disheartened them with the PS5... I can only expect that they will either fail miserably with their customers with a future handheld console, or even worse they might pull an 'unwanted console no one will buy' on them."

 

[DiscostewSM]

Sony has such a heavy reliance on 3rd-party now compared to back with the PSP and even to a lesser degree the Vita, that it doesn't really make sense for them to make a dedicated portable. They still have 1st-party games, but not many with most trying to push Hollywood budgets, and to add a portable into the mix would further stretch their development team thin, like butter scraped over too much bread.

 

[ChronosNotashi]

Sony has such a heavy reliance on 3rd-party now compared to back with the PSP and even to a lesser degree the Vita, that it doesn't really make sense for them to make a dedicated portable. They still have 1st-party games, but not many with most trying to push Hollywood budgets, and to add a portable into the mix would further stretch their development team thin, like butter scraped over too much bread.

Funny how you mention a reliance on 3rd parties. Something I recalled later regarding Sony's attempt to push into the retro console market with the PS Classic: they didn't use their own in-house emulation software, like Nintendo did with the NES/SNES Classic consoles. They used PCSX ReARMed, a 3rd-party open-source emulator, and just rolled with that instead of taking the time to build and tune an original emulator that could potentially be used for future emulation efforts (ex: a potential basis for PS1 emulation on PS5). They cheaped out on making a competitor to the NES/SNES Classic, and it showed.

Much like how they're likely to cheap out on whatever new handheld they make, and fail to actually sell the thing due to needing too much 3rd-party support (something that, iirc, was already a bit of an issue with PSP and Vita, but the former wasn't hit as hard due to not sharing so many exclusives with the PS3).

 

[ratamahatta]

I think a lot of people are missing the big picture here which is that Nintendo both captured and perfected the handheld market... This isn't an opinion, just the way it played (and with now over 5 decades of focus, beginning with the Game & Watch [..which also went dual screen..] it isn't really a surprise!).

The DS released at a the same time as the original PSP (I owned and loved both consoles), but whether it be Ninty's ~24 years in handheld at the time, or their extra features (some will say revolutionary, some will say gimmicks) they still outsold the PSP almost 2x over. The DS didn't outsell the PS2, which in the same era literally revolutionised the home console market with raw power. The PS2 brought all of the successful partnerships that the PS1 attracted, plus all of the biggest 3rd party developers leading to the biggest selling console of all time (which was only tailed shortly by the DS).

The DS had a backing of decades worth of handheld development. (Arguably, they also revolutionised the mobile game market with intuitive touch screen controls).
At this time major developers were happy to throw funds into developing games for a handheld with such immense sales. (Biggest downside to this was the absurd influx of shovelware, which was exacerbated by the introduction of the disguised turd that is casual mobile phone games, which has continued to this day).

The PSP had the backing of Sony's biggest third party developers like SquareEnix, Rockstar and Capcom (as well as SCE), it also had exceptional sales but I personally think that the cost of development and a smaller return compared to Home Consoles, even with the PSP, Sony was still looking to 'out-power' Nintendo which led to bigger losses due to development costs.


In their continuation of revolutionising of (or just plain fucking with) the market, Ninity produced:

The underpowered Gamecube
The underpowered, but revolutionary Wii.
The (maybe only gimmicky, but better powered) 3DS
The (at the time, still underpowered) WiiU

At at the release of the WiiU, the handheld market was mostly owned by Nintendo. They had carved out their niche and planned for their next step into weirdom, which was the amalgamation of:
Their centuries old brand with obscure but popular ideas,
Their underpowered home console, and
Their dominance of the handheld market

This eventuated in the Switch, which has absolutely dominated both the home console and the handheld markets in this generation (call it a hybrid or whatever, but it's still getting releases of brilliant games without a care for the latest AAA releases on Xbox or PlayStation consoles).

I think Sony would be fucking insane to attempt to develop some sort of true handheld device ala the PSP in this time, and to attempt some sort of 'tuned down' version of a PS5, or a 'suped up' version of the portal will only lead to something quite underwhelming. But I don't know, it would be exciting to see a revival of the good old console wars of the 90s, maybe it's something that doesn't exist anymore with the current climate where developers are more revered than the consoles the games are on...

...forget it Sony, just bite the bullet and put your first party handheld spin-offs on the
Super Switch.


Sorry... This started off as a reply, which turned into an almost opinion piece , which I was like (do I just make a new thread?) but didn't feel it was that important, even with all the crap I just wrote....


I'll just leave it here

 

[console]

I agree with above! Because Sony made own handheld console will not have good library games similar to PSP and Vita. Sony quit support own PSP and Vita for few years and ignore people complain about future backward compatible. Sony only focus on current technology and not care about old systems like PSP, Vita and go on. Very sad news.

I own PS4 then I got PS5. I think PS6 maybe will be my last buy console before Sony force PS7 and later to be digital only then I will quit it and said good bye to Sony due to digital only systems are huge problems come up later in the future when Sony shut down digital store cause many people angry for lost all of money to throw away to hurt their feelings. That's why Sony give many problems to all of people. Avoid digital systems at all cost and many people will learn lessons about digital only systems are very bad for everyone.

When I saw PS7 and newer are digital only then I will get retired to forget all Sony's problems in the future. I would have to focus on my family and my girl friend / wife need my help for anything. Life is busy, busy all of times. Life is short.

 

[subcon959]

The underpowered Gamecube

I'm not sure why this is such a commonly held view. The Gamecube was hindered by its proprietary media but otherwise a fairly cutting edge console based on Power PC architecture. The PS2 was the weakest hardware of the generation.

 

[sarkwalvein]

I'm not sure why this is such a commonly held view. The Gamecube was hindered by its proprietary media but otherwise a fairly cutting edge console based on Power PC architecture. The PS2 was the weakest hardware of the generation.

Well... one could say the Dreamcast was in that same generation too.

But yeah, the GameCube was on the top of that generation hardwarewise, only surpassed by the XBOX OG.

 

[SkulUlator]

In other words, Sony announced a new rom/emulator machine!
Imagine the potential when this gets inevitably dropped in the first few months of release because it isn't making switch numbers straightaway even though it is ridiculously priced and has like two random exclusives.

New project for the hackers announced more like!

 

[Tarmfot]

I think a lot of people are missing the big picture here which is that Nintendo both captured and perfected the handheld market... This isn't an opinion, just the way it played (and with now over 5 decades of focus, beginning with the Game & Watch [..which also went dual screen..] it isn't really a surprise!).

The DS released at a the same time as the original PSP (I owned and loved both consoles), but whether it be Ninty's ~24 years in handheld at the time, or their extra features (some will say revolutionary, some will say gimmicks) they still outsold the PSP almost 2x over. The DS didn't outsell the PS2, which in the same era literally revolutionised the home console market with raw power. The PS2 brought all of the successful partnerships that the PS1 attracted, plus all of the biggest 3rd party developers leading to the biggest selling console of all time (which was only tailed shortly by the DS).

The DS had a backing of decades worth of handheld development. (Arguably, they also revolutionised the mobile game market with intuitive touch screen controls).
At this time major developers were happy to throw funds into developing games for a handheld with such immense sales. (Biggest downside to this was the absurd influx of shovelware, which was exacerbated by the introduction of the disguised turd that is casual mobile phone games, which has continued to this day).

The PSP had the backing of Sony's biggest third party developers like SquareEnix, Rockstar and Capcom (as well as SCE), it also had exceptional sales but I personally think that the cost of development and a smaller return compared to Home Consoles, even with the PSP, Sony was still looking to 'out-power' Nintendo which led to bigger losses due to development costs.


In their continuation of revolutionising of (or just plain fucking with) the market, Ninity produced:

The underpowered Gamecube
The underpowered, but revolutionary Wii.
The (maybe only gimmicky, but better powered) 3DS
The (at the time, still underpowered) WiiU

At at the release of the WiiU, the handheld market was mostly owned by Nintendo. They had carved out their niche and planned for their next step into weirdom, which was the amalgamation of:
Their centuries old brand with obscure but popular ideas,
Their underpowered home console, and
Their dominance of the handheld market

This eventuated in the Switch, which has absolutely dominated both the home console and the handheld markets in this generation (call it a hybrid or whatever, but it's still getting releases of brilliant games without a care for the latest AAA releases on Xbox or PlayStation consoles).

I think Sony would be fucking insane to attempt to develop some sort of true handheld device ala the PSP in this time, and to attempt some sort of 'tuned down' version of a PS5, or a 'suped up' version of the portal will only lead to something quite underwhelming. But I don't know, it would be exciting to see a revival of the good old console wars of the 90s, maybe it's something that doesn't exist anymore with the current climate where developers are more revered than the consoles the games are on...

...forget it Sony, just bite the bullet and put your first party handheld spin-offs on the
Super Switch.


Sorry... This started off as a reply, which turned into an almost opinion piece , which I was like (do I just make a new thread?) but didn't feel it was that important, even with all the crap I just wrote....


I'll just leave it here

Gamecube underpowered...
Touchscreen gaming was done in palmos and windows mobile devices like Tapwave Zodiac before Nintendo.

 

[1D3G0]

Finger's cross for A PlayStation vita resurrection with PS1,2,3 emulation, maybe even a open os that allow us to install our own emulators.

 

[Vetusomaru]

To make a new console, you need games. And Playstation 5 has no games.

 

[The_Dizzy_Vizzy]

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.

THE CAKE IS A LIE.

Post automatically merged: Dec 12, 2024

Finger's cross for A PlayStation vita resurrection with PS1,2,3 emulation, maybe even a open os that allow us to install our own emulators.

It's a sweet idea, but I just CANNOT see that actually happening. Besides, Valve & Asus have already made one of those. They need much, much bigger leverage against other handhelds to make this happen. And like a lot of people in this thread have mentioned, if they use a bunch of proprietary BS in this thing (esp memory cards, cables and the like), they're FUCKED.

 

[Aergisgeist]

If sony can SOMEHOW make a device the size of roughly the vita, but with improved hardware, I'd be happy. It's the perfectly sized portable console. All this to say it'll probably be switch or deck sized