Talking Point: Would You Want a Steam Deck-Like Portable PlayStation?

In principle I would be indeed very interested in this. But I wouldn't buy it at launch, for one major reason: I wouldn't know if it would be a PSP or a PS Vita in terms of Sony's support. And that makes a world of a difference when it comes to whether it would be worth getting one instead of just continuing to use Steam Deck (or its successor) and Chiaki.

Hell yeah I would!

Nope. Only because as I get older, the smaller screens don’t play well with my eyes.

Full console (or Switch style hybrid that I’d play as a regular console anyway) for me.

Have the Steam deck, it's absolutely brilliant.

Honest question here: If Sony used the PS4 tech for a portable, would that make it easier to invest in it? Like, isntead of creating a new tech and split resources financing 2 systems, they could adapt the old gen into portable hardware. I would imagine this could make it easier to have "cross gen", maybe? Not having the exact games per say, but I would imagine it would be easier to get the last gen version buffed up for current gen. Since it's a portable, perhaps it would even make it much more acceptable for the versions to be so different.

I suppose the resources invested would be higher than the way current cross gen have been made, but I believe it would be much less than developing for 2 completely different machines (like comparing Nintendo's N64 & Gameboy).

I don't know much, but I dare to dream. Hahahhaha

F*ck yeah, be able to download your PS4/PS5 games (and potentially PSX/PS2/PS3/ and PSP games) all on one device would be epic

@dskatter Do you consider the portal's screen too small as well, or if they made the portal into a handheld, would the screen size suffice?

Honest question.

Thanks to the article writer for including an option for not giving a crap about portable gaming. A handheld means less than nothing to me.

Why would I want to hunch over a tiny screen with cramped controls for a compromised experience when I can game from the comfort of a plush armchair on a glorious 77” 4K@120hz OLED with a Dualsense? No one goes to rooftop soirées like in those embarrassing Switch ads. Not everyone has a 2hr commute on the train or school bus. I can’t speak for others, but when I’m sitting on the porcelain Xbox I’m not glued to a screen. I don’t understand the draw of a handheld, outside that of maybe schoolchildren.

It definitely would be welcome but since Sony brings their games to PC anyway not really needed (at least for me) since you can just play them on Steam Deck/ROG Ally etc

Why is £400 expensive for a gaming device like Steam Deck? What do you think you should pay for it, £100? It's slightly more than a Switch Oled. It's so tiresome. I'd definelty be up for a Sony handheld

If it looked like the one pictured, sure .

We don't need a dedicated console to make games for, just a device to play our library of games locally on the go.

I'm sure they can make something and sell it for less than PSVR2 and then you don't have to support it with software. That's what was a good selling point for the SteamDeck. It's your current Steam Library on go. Just give me the PlayStation version of that.

@charbtronic you've described the Portal.

@riceNpea locally is the keyword. No Internet connection required to play your games. I can't bring my portal on a train, plane, or even some hotels because it's so dependent on the Internet connection.

@get2sammyb Tbh i just rebuy them on PC in a sale.
But I get that others won't do that

But that would only matter anyway if 1) there is crossplay between PS5 and handheld and 2) the handheld supports disc since most of my PS5 library is physical

The biggest thing I like about my Steam Deck is it shares my Steam library, so if I buy something on Steam, I can play it on both my PC and my Deck.

My biggest problem with a lot of handheld only devices is you have to build a library dedicated for it, and a lot of IPs may become handheld only or you may have certain entries in a franchise that are cut off on said handheld (i.e. Uncharted on Vita or Gravity Rush 1 if we never got the Remaster and 2 for example).

So if Sony could make a device similar to the Steam Deck that shares your digital library and can actually store games on the device and not just stream, it would be a game changer for Sony.

@mariomaster96 "since Sony brings their games to PC anyway not really needed"

This wouldn't be aimed at Steam users, they have the Steam deck. This is for strictly PlayStation users who have a giant collection of PS4/PS5 (plus future PS6 titles) games and want to play it on the go.

@charbtronic I guess it depends in the country you live in. I can do all that in the UK.

If you want to be able to play your library, I don't know how you'd do it without internet.

@Juanalf Iike I said in another comment, that would only matter if 1) we assume it has crossplay 2) the user has all their games digital or the device supports discs

Abso-freakin-lutely!

Nuff said.

Have desktop mode too (basically becomes a TV based console) where PSSR can work its magic

Yes. I just hope it has better form factor that the steam deck. That thing's ugly as sin.

I would like to see a new PlayStation Portable machine can play physical cartridge and UMD PSP.

Thanks to Chiaki I already do have one. I often remote play my PS5 on my Deck when I'm out or abroad.

I would definitely be interested, even at the price point of around $399 to $499.

A handheld that can play PS6 games natively with reduced fidelity sounds awesome, throw in steam compatibility and its a done deal.

I can imagine a PS6 for around €599 to €649 and a PS6 handheld for around the aforementioned prices.

And in addition keep the cheap streaming only handheld option for $199. Thereby having options for a wider range of budgets.

If it let me download PS5 games and play them natively I’d absolutely get one. My Steam Deck is my most frequently used system.

Hell yes, and I think it's pretty much guarteened at this point, the portable market has exploded since the failure of the Vita, and the demand for the Portal has showcased that people want it from them.

I wouldn’t buy one but I’m sure it would be succesful if it was the right price point. I have a Steam Deck which I love for the versatility; I can stream my PS and Xbox from it, I can use it docked or handheld, it works with all my Bluetooth controllers and can pick up games where I left off on PC.

Nope
Not really in the habit of wanting to or needing to game on the go or in other circumstances. I can just play on my TV at home when I set aside time to do so. Not one to need a screen to stare at and distract me from this reality everywhere I go, or share specific screen time amongst competing household members.

However, The latter I do get as a selling point for those that share one large screen amongst many.

@get2sammyb that's the Portal, surely. How does anyone expect to do that without internet connection?

@Shepherd_Tallon It would be cool if they release a version that has even just 128Gb storage. To install PS1 and PS2 games. Some kind of streaming/retro handheld device. I can imagine a Portal version with a Led screen and a little bit of storage for around $249.

A version that could play PS4 games locally does sound cool, but that will be a much more sophisticated version than this, needing far better specs. I would buy it in a second, though.

Obviously my answer is - Absolutely. Please not another streaming ps portal.

@get2sammyb I'm trying to wrap my head around why Sony would bother when the Vita did so poorly and the Portal is doing well. Looks to me they've found the sweet spot already.

The devil is in the detail here.

The portable PC market is obviously starting to become a big deal and being able to seamlessly carry over your library and saves to another device would be amazing but what's this thing going to cost to make sure it can run all PS5 games?

Further, people still have concerns that the PS4 holds back thr PS5 and that series S holds back Series X, surely anything that can be a portable PS5 would either be ludicrously expensive or have the same issues?

Do I want it? Yep yep, do I think it comes with potentially massive issues to overcome -definitely.

Yes, but SMALLER. Switch and steam deck might be handheld but they're not very portable. I still play PSP and looking at a Vita for my actually portable gaming

@Medic_alert the problem with Series S is the console "parity", and sure they're being more flexible, but every Series X game still needs to run on Series S. With a handheld, you can be a lot more fussy on what games are or aren't developed for it.

I personally love my Steam Deck. That said PSP and Vita are some of my favourite hardware devices of all time. With the Steam Deck I like the versatility. I can play in the Deck or in a PC and the saves are automatically uploaded. In Sony's case the portable will be more expensive from the 399€ I paid for it and you still have to pay PS plus for the cross save. It clearly depends if you have an extensive library.

A new portable device may not go well with enthusiasts. They will claim the same stuff they say for Series S that the new games will be scaled down etc.

@get2sammyb if that were to happen, I'd expect some kind of symbiotic handheld/console device like the Switch.

Ah how we have shifted from handhelds are dead and the Switch will fail because it's underpowered to it being the third best selling system of all time with no additional media functionality or price cut, and PC manufacturers pumping handhelds out like bread from a bakery, to Xbox admitting they want in on it, all creating relatively capable but still not amazing specification machines.

I mean, yeah, of course they'll do it. They'd be stupid not to. This is the way gaming has always been heading. For decades the gap between handhelds and home devices was narrowing. First it was a portable NES alongside your SNES, then an SNES alongside your GameCube, an N64 and Wii, GameCube and Wii U, a PS2-ish and a PS3. SNES games ported to GBA, Wii games ported to 3DS. The line got narrowed and narrower.

Then look at phones. Same deal. We've gone from calls and texts with a Walkman in your pocket to all in one device.

You know I actually failed a university course where an assignment was to design the future of gaming, and I said it would be this exact thing. Switch, Steam deck, the whole lot. And they failed me because it was unrealistic.

Lmao.

The price, though. I can't imagine how much this thing would cost.

@Medic_alert Yes i agree, this doesn't sound cheap. I can see it falling anywhere around the $399 to €499 range. But fair, compared to similar devices. It will also depend on what Nintendo is going to ask for the Switch 2, as future handhelds will have to be competitively priced against it.

have a switch, will buy the successor. have a psp and a vita, would love to have a new PS handheld that at least could play PS4 games, if it could play ps5 games on a reduces resolution and/or details that would be a day one for me. but no streaming.

@Haruki_NLI You we’re ahead of your time bro, they couldn’t handle your brainpower 😉

@LogicStrikesAgain TBF, this was 2014. Wii U was dead, 3DS wasnt hot, Vita was dead, mobile gaming ruled the roost.

Then again, this Uni also bet big on VR and had us use Vita dev kits and make games in Flash....that was already confirmed to no longer be supported so.....not entirely sure they knew what they were doing.

Not really. Most PlayStation games come to PC and most of the back catalogue is already on PC, it won't have exclusive games so what's the point.

Better off with the rog ally or or steam deck (I have both) and can play the likes of ragnarok or forbidden West just fine already.

Steam deck and rog ally are probably the 2 best gaming things I've brought since 360 days really (not including building a very good PC and moving to PC gaming mainly this gen)

Only if it is portable PS5 or PS6. While customers could be willing to invest in several platforms, the platform holders are not. I.e. they don’t want to make „small“ games for portables and „big“ games for consoles, just games which runs on all of their target platforms. That’s why Sony stopped supporting the Vita and Nintendo unified the development in one R&D unit.

And I don’t belive that Sony is willing to sacrifice its first level party games to get them running on weak mobile CPUs.

@Whately86 I haven’t handled a Portal, so honestly can’t answer that question! I just know that as I get older, the smaller the screen is, the less my eyes like it.

I am not the target audience for a portable, sadly. Twenty years ago, I would have LOVED a portable PlayStation. Heck, I loved my PSP, Vita, GBA, DS, 3DS, etc. it’s just that current late-40s me can’t do it as well.

@danzoEX tbf I don't see Sony support backwards compatibility like that and the beat way to play any games from this consoles is emulation although admittedly RPCS3 is difficult as the PS3 architecture is a mess

As I've been saying for a while now: Hybrid handheld with an (optional) egpu powered dock is the ps6... no inbetween gen, last gen, separate ecosystem etc. solution. Current library and ps6.

the dealbreaker for me is size and functionality. i like the idea of having a portable console but it's not good if it doesn't fit comfortably in my pocket like psp, vita, ds etc. functionality is another big concern because id like to have a way to view/stream videos and listen to music without being tethered to a phone and constantly draining battery from that thing.

Yes if it had physical media

It depends, if it is independent of the PS5/PS6 (different game library) then no, I do not want this. I do not have unlimited time or money to support two separate ecosystems. IMHO this a contributing factor for the lower adoption of the PSP and PSV.

If its like the the SteamDeck, in that its the same games as its big brother but with different performance profiles, absolutely. Day One.

@get2sammyb Since cross-buy was mentioned in the article and you mentioned the fact that you need to buy the game again on PC, I think it's a shame that Sony doesn't give players at least a cheaper pathway to get the PC version if you already have the PS5 version. I mean, it even shares the same trophy list... come on.

@SlipperyFish but I was talking about a seamless experience where you can move between your PS5 and the handheld.

I'm not sure I want a dedicated handheld console that ends up with portable games.

@thedevilsjester that's where I am too. Portability is a convenience thing not my preferred way to play.

@get2sammyb Sorry for replying twice. My concern (and what I meant by support) is that I imagine that they would have to optimize or patch some games to run well on the device. Even if hardware is getting more scalable, adjustments are always necessary. I think this would be a great idea and I would be personally very interested. But after seeing some hit or miss patches for the Pro, I would be cautiously optimistic if they released a device like that.

Yes make it so at least it can play ps1, ps2, and ps4 games natively, ps3 & ps5 with cloud, and have proprietary wifi (like wii u tablet) so you can play ps5 games with wifi but without internet in your home.

I would buy it day one, make it also dockable to play it on TV and you have a winner, although Sony may not want to do that as it may harm the main consoles sales.

I personally enjoy the handheld options that we have nowadays.

Back in time, when PSP came out, I wanted to have one. But it was just way out of my budget as a student with rent and living expenses. I preferred a pc over a console because I needed a device for studies and games at the same time.

Nowadays, almost everybody's needs can be covered. If you need a gaming handheld only, you are covered. You need a handheld pc: covered.

I would be curious if Sony designed one.

There's a lot of factors that would determine my interest in one. Price is an obvious one. As stated Steam Deck like machines are not cheap and I highly doubt it would be Sony to buck that trend.

I also just don't like how big and bulky portable systems are now. I miss the days when portable systems actually felt...you know...portable. I could fit my Vita/3DS in my jean pocket no problem. No way I'm doing that with a Deck or even the Switch. The games were were also developed with portability in mind and you just don't get that anymore unfortunately.

All that said the idea of it just tapping into my games on PSN is enticing. An instant huge library of games to pick from is pretty cool.

I don't know. I'd need to see more info before I'd go one way or the other. I'm not 100% on board but I'd still be at least interested in it.

@Medic_alert that's fair, I wouldn't really care for anything seamless. Would much prefer a dedicated handheld like PSP or Vita. In order to run games natively it will require games to be optimised for it anyway

@UltimateOtaku91 The PSP had 24-pin multi AV output port that could connect to a display. It wasn't as useful as the Switch "dock and go" or even the SteamDeck dock; but it did exist.

@Haruki_NLI Schools are always messed up and behind when it comes to tech. One of the reasons I changed my major from computer science to sociology was because my sister was learning the same useful stuff in 2nd grade I was learning in college. They were smart enough in 2nd grade not to waste their time with dead languages like COBOL and FORTRAN. 😂

This wouldn’t be for me, not a handheld gamer, but I’ve always thought Sony would make one again. B/c handheld has always been the future. Star Trek in the 1960s knew that. Not a separate ecosystem, nobody wants that, but running a 4k game at 1080p should be doable at a reasonable price. And I’m guessing current audio tech would cut down on overhead as well. If PSSR can do upscaling then there should be similar AI for downscaling. Throw in HDMI out and done, good enough for most of us for most games.

The Switch successor is pretty much the only new gaming machine it still makes sense for me to pursue in the visible future; a proper Vita successor would become a footnote to that claim. It doesn't even need to compete with anything - just roll out a legacy device embracing what can easily be at least four (PS1/PS2/PSP/PSV) or even five/six pastgen libraries, give it a proper Remote Play with adjustable/adaptive stream resolutions for Gen 9/10 stuff, throw in even just occasional new kids on the block like classic franchise revisits a la Ratchet & Clank and manageable indies developed under SIE patronage - and the result might well reprise PSP's sales or even reach PS4's. Vita itself wasn't even hampered by lack of first party support (what was there of the latter still includes some of the best games in entire PlayStation history) nearly as much as by proprietary storage prices, a stunt I don't expect even Sony to try and pull again. And of course, a hybrid format would also be Sony catching up with the times for once (especially since they already had some disjointed experience putting one's partial Vita library on TV screens via separate hardware), but their focus on living room boxes doesn't leave me holding my breath for such a development - at best, we'd probably get some crossbuys like back in Gen 8.

@thedevilsjester Sega Nomad (basically portable Mega Drive in all but name and peripheral support) could be optionally connected to a TV a good decade before PSP, but nobody discusses it as a hybrid either. It really took Switch to properly conceptualize and embody the latter concept.

@get2sammyb yep I think you hit the nail on the head, Vita needed games made or ported from scratch, Steam Deck would inherit my 150+ games in my library, same with Switch being hybird, they found a model to make it feasible in modern times...so why not make one.

I laid this out in an article the other day, but this is what I think Sony should do for the PS6:

PS6 = standard console upgrade, all the new bells and whistles, etc.

PSMobile (for lack of a better name) = Switch/Steamdeck-like handheld with PS5-levels of power, but built for PS6 games; able to be docked to a TV as-is

PSMobile eGPU = an add-on/upsell dock with an eGPU that supercharges a docked PSMobile and brings it to (or near) standard PS6 levels of capability, with the power discrepancy - if any - between the PSM+eGPU and the PS6 akin to the difference between a PS5 and a PS5 Pro, respectively

This would let them fight competitors on multiple fronts and give consumers more options than ever before.

I personally wouldn't be interested in a portable Playstation Steam Deck like device, but I wouldn't protest the existence of one either. I like the idea of options for every player and their preferences.

My SteamDeck is already a portable Playstation...and Xbox...PS1, PS2, Genesis, Gameboy, GBC, GBA, NES, SNES, N64, GC, Wii, TGFX16...but uhhh ya...sure. Make something else pointless Sony.

Nah, love the steam deck but mostly in docked mode and mostly for emulation ( although pc gamers get a hell of a lot of games for free which is pretty sweet). It's perked up my interest in going full pc though especially with how console gaming's going these days... But no, a portable ps5 doesn't appeal and the portal seems to be stepping up in that regard if that's your thing

Personally I don't see that it makes any sense for the majority of people.

My Portal would always wipe the floor with a SteamDeck-esque handheld.

You can't fit a PS5 into that form factor. Power, heat, no, just no.

Most people play portables in their own home, sat on the sofa whilst their partner watches the TV, or in bed.

Better to release a Portal Pro with a HDR OLED, possibly with higher res or higher refresh.

A Steam Deck type PSP would actually make me a dedicated PlayStation fan again

I would absolutely play a portable PS5 that could natively play games even if they were at a lower resolution.

nope , i play games at home . i used to like handhelds as a kid , but couldn’t care less about them anymore.

I don't see the point with Sony's games all going to PC anyway. I'll just grab the Switch 2 and Steam Deck 2 and have access to nearly every game ever made.

@kyleforrester87 How you liking the Steam Deck OLED? Isn't it awesome? I hardly play anything else anymore.

If you could play your playstation library on a handheld natively without streaming that would be awesome. As long as it doesn't burden developers having to do extra optimization or worse having to create new games specifically for the handheld. What would make it even better if somehow they could get it to play your steam games as well but I can't see that ever happening 😂

Oh god more than anything!!

It’s a cool idea in theory, but I don’t think Sony should try to handicap its leading edge console to support a handheld… look at the Xbox series X vs S debate.

I'd definitely be interested for the right price. If it's too expensive then it's not worth getting over a Steam Deck or similar, but if they go the cheaper route it likely wouldn't be able to run the same games as whatever console they're on by then. It's a balance, but I will say I've played my Portal a lot more than I'd expected to, especially with a family sharing the main TV, so any way to make that more versatile and not so reliant on an internet connection would be appreciated.

@riceNpea what he means is a portable PS5

@Xbox_Dashboard because you have a steam deck, a new PSP is pointless? Lol

@kyleforrester87 I'm super impressed with how nicely SMT V: Vengeance runs on the thing. Hits 90fps much of the time, and 60fps all the time, as far as I can tell.

The Yakuza games have been running very nicely at 45fps so far.

The Resident Evil games, too. RE2R looked brilliant with the deep black and HDR color bursts. And I love how easily you can apply a community config that lets you gyro aim.

I've heard Hi-Fi Rush is terrific on it as well.

@Ralizah "I don't see the point with Sony's games all going to PC anyway"

Well if/when Sony releases their portable that would mean they would prioritize their portable over the Deck (and PC ports maybe start to dwindle) which is what I'm sure you're more afraid of.

Also as soon as this comes out the Steam Deck will take a back seat and Sony would have the number 2 most popular portable, like Sammy said the Steam Deck hasn't even sold as much as the Vita (aka one of Sony's biggest failure..after Concord!)

Sure. But rather with it's own library, instead of trying to run PS5 games, badly.

So many details matter.

Proprietary storage vs regular storage.

Cost. Size. Battery life.

Compatibility. Give me something like the PS Portal (DualSense controller baked in) AND software to play games from Playstation locally (AND, dare I ask, ability to play PC games if I want), as well as streaming options, and you may have a winner.

But there are SO MANY details that matter and would affect sales, and one of them is Sony's inability to properly support Vita (which died just as I was ready to buy in) and PSVR1/2. If nobody trusts them to build an ecosystem, then the sales will be too lackluster for them to invest in building an ecosystem....

@PCPS4XB with a hard drive? Right, now I get it 🤦

@riceNpea yeah like a less powerful PS5 but portable.... It's all good bud, it was a genuine mistake 👍

It just won't work unfortunately. Not as just a dedicated handheld.

It would have to be a steam deck clone for it to work.

Just like I can play my entire library of steam games on a steam deck.

It would have to be ny entire library of psn games. It would have to be able to natively every game I own on ps4 ps5 and ps6. No questions asked.

Gone are the days of a handheld coming out which is just standalone.

No one cared for the vita and Sony sure as h*ll don't support the secondary devices they put out.

So it would only work if they did a ps portal with native full library access just like the steam deck.

Problem is, is that enough?

I mean it really depends on how many they want to sell and profit.

We all love the idea of the steamdeck but sales are less than 10m in total according to figures. Can Sony risk or want to risk that little sales.

A portable system is perfect for indies, but playing AAA games is terrible on such a tiny screen.
So I really don't need anything more powerful than the switch as a handheld.

I kind think Playstation owns the premium home console space. I think the biggest competition is moving to portable spaces (handheld Steam decks, Switch, Xbox, phone/tablet)

So they should go into that space more, but I am not sure if they should make their own mobile hardware.

I would want a Vita w decent support and fairly priced memory cards. I still play mine.

Absolutely would buy one! Will say this though; Sony would need to put lots of focus and weight behind development of AAA games for the console, it would need to be THE place to create Indie titles, it would need the best resolution and largest screen size they can manage on a handheld, it would need a top notch battery that doesn't run out after an hour, and the best processor they can shove in it! But foremost for me is dedicated AAA games for it, as I think that's largely where Vita fell short. I still have and play my Vita, but it wasn't well supported for big games

If they allow me to download my digital games I bought on my PSP and vita, I would be down. I had my psvita stolen by a dick head who broke into my car.

@Elitepatriot Could also just allow me to play them on my PlayStation 5 though.

Not for me. Even my Switch was always in Docked. It didn't have the battery life to be worth it for long travel and the TV will always be a better screen than a tiny OLED. It is also bad for your eyesight.

@Skyfall Wow 3 mil is low given how loud the internet is regarding the Steam Deck but then I do think PC Gamers in general can be very loud online.

It needs to be an “and” product. PS6 and a portable alternative, not one device that does both like the switch, as I wouldn’t want there to be compromises on the games when docked for the sake of portability.

@dskatter
This. Had a Steam Deck OLED and ROG Ally. Really nice devices but I constantly had neck pain and my eyes were strained from looking at those small screens. Got rid of both and got a 32 inch OLED monitor to pair with my PS5 and no more handhelds for me.

I think the reason the Vita didn't take off was mainly due to the price of both console and proprietary storage solution.

I Sony made a handheld that didn't have these issues I think people would buy it.

But on the other hand, there's already many players on the handheld scene, especially if Microsoft is also planning on a handheld. It could be that the market will be way too over saturated with handheld, impacting sales for everyone.

@FreasurePlanten if sony were to design a modern handheld, the idea is that it would run all ps4 games and most ps5 games (with some fidelity/resolution compromises just like steam deck does) out of the box. sony would not design original games exclusively for the handheld. as such, the question on whether sony would invest enough resources to support the handheld is irrelevent when there are already thousands of ps4 and ps5 games that would run on it from day one. the old model of designing different games exclusivly for home console and/or a handheld are long over... even for nintendo. in the case of sony, if they are smart, all of our current digital libraries would run on it and there would be no reason to release carts of any kind. it would be a digital software only device like steam deck. if it happens, this is the only approach i can see sony pursuing.

@kyleforrester87 welcome to the Deck community lol
To be fair I haven't had it for a long time (only a few months), but I absolutely adore the thing, it's become my boomer shooter machine and I love it lol
Other than that, JRPG's I always find great when portable, along with metroidvanias and platformers in general (even 3D ones!).
Some highlights of these first few months include Witchfire (Early Access), HROT, Cassette Beasts, and replaying a lot of DOOM games lol

As long as its as open as my steam deck. Non of this silly card stuff. Deck is amazing until you have to go offline then EA, Rockstar and the like won't let you play their single player games. I use my deck at sea and ps5/pc at home. Each device will have its key audience. The vita is still good but far too small.

@breakneck steam deck is awesome, love mine, but rather niche I'll agree. I have a reason to have one which goes away next September. Will the deck gather dust then I wonder...

For me it'd probably be a No. I love my Portal, works great and the addition of cloud streaming is well received.

However had the Portal been a device to play games natively, there would need to be a degree of downscaling those games.

For me the PS5 is yet to really hit full pace, with games continuing to be released cross-gen and inevitably being held back somewhat by the PS4.

I'd struggle to be convinced that they could cram a PS5 into a handheld but even if they could, surely we'd be in the same cross-gen situation where some sacrifice would need to be made on PS6 games to cater for it. Those sacrifices can come in many forms, from not using the full potential of the console to having to release development resource to work on two versions.

@Juanalf I have horizon, days gone and a couple of others for on the go. It's niche, but so is portal.

Absolutely and I'd buy it even if it cost a fortune. As long as it can play games natively (even ps4 games would be fine), I'd be more than happy.

@DaniPooo I think it was like a million reasons, but that was definitely part of it. Another factor that most people forget is that handhelds weren't popular at the time. When psp came out, smartphones hadn't really taken off yet. So it offered a unique experience. When the vita came out, every other comment I read dismissed it as unnecessary. Even 3ds struggled and forced Nintendo to sell it at a loss before it took off. In Japan Nintendo got an exclusive Monster Hunter game the week that the vita launched. It was pronounced dead by media before it even made it to the west.

@Axelay71 Same here.
I love it connected to my TV.
It's loaded with Emulators too

Like Sony cares what consumer wants...

I would be very, very interested in both a playstation and an Xbox handheld in vein of the steam deck, so long as it's not a streaming handheld like the portal (not for me). It would also be very cool if they could be played on the big screen much like the switch and steam deck, even if the docks or cables are sold separate.
I've been tempted many times to buy a steam deck but I've always felt that because I've left it a bit late an updated version will be out somewhat soon.

@Balaam_ handhelds aren't for everyone, that's fair. For me it's nice to have when someone else has the TV and I just don't care about what they put on (which is fairly often 😅)

I already have a deck. Why would I buy something that does the same thing?

@Juanalf Sony barely prioritizes their console over PC as of late, and the PS5 is still humming along nicely. What on Earth makes you think they'd prioritize a handheld that'll most likely sell significantly sub-Vita numbers because of how expensive the thing will need to be to not lose a ton of money for Sony?

They probably won't even manufacture it in large numbers. It'll be like the PSVR: a luxury/enthusiast-targeted item they'll probably forget about a year after releasing.

All that being said, even if Sony did luck out and the PS6 Portable did sell extremely well compared to the Deck 2... so what? Sony won't drop support for PC or handheld PCs as long as they don't consider the ecosystem a threat.

1) call is PSP - everyone knew what it was and I got fed up of explaining what a Vita was
2) give it a decent price point so those of us with other commitments can afford it
3) make it backwards compatible with PS4/PS5 games

Thing is, the Vita was and, to a certain point, still is a cracking handheld - just the right size and still feels a lot more premium than the Nintendo/Fisher Price Switch Lite.
The main reason the Vita failed was because Sony put all their efforts behind the PS4 and crippled the handheld (looking at those stupidly priced memory cards) before stabbing it in the back.

I'm still playing my PSVITA every week, I consider it one of the jewels of my collection.

This is still the best way to experience PSone games, for me, nowadays.

Been thinking about this as since the 4.0 update, my Portal has a great lease of new life. As it’s so reliant on streaming, why can’t Sony just take their SSD tech, wrap it in a case that plugs into the USB C port and cradles itself to the back of the Portal?

Having a through-port to allow charging and then you can not only stream, but store some of your collection on the device.

Would expect this to be not cheap, but even if there were storage options ( 1/2tb, 1tb etc) that could bridge the functionality gap. At least until a Portal 2pro+ device comes out

Switch-like — maybe, depends on what games are there, and what the battery lifetime is. Steam Deck-like — hell, no. It's ugly.

I would like a handheld that can have multiple accounts. N I would like it if it can play all games I own on ps4, psp, vita and PS5. N if it could play PS3 games, that would be wicked.

No chance. I have a steam deck and a ps portal. I love my portal and am not super thrilled with my deck.

Reason is simple, the deck is too bulky to be useful. Its like holding a brick with a screen.

For a portable to be good it needs a good battery and to be lightweight.

Unfortunately these run opposite of the idea of being a capable portable device at this time. Games require power which requires bigger batteries which create weight which makes portables with power bulky.

Until thats fixed, ive no interest in a portable outside of the portal/switch

I would have zero interest in this. None. It would be a total waste of time. I have my OG PSP still and it still works, it was a fantastic device because Sony and devs supported it. Then we got the Vita, and it lasted what 2 years before Sony ditched its support and turned it into a PS4 remote control…

It became obvious then that Sony do NOT have the ability or staff to maintain different dedicated devices, the Portal succeeds because it IS a remote control, and to Sonys shock no doubt is successful.

But even Nintendo discovered it couldn’t handle a home console and handheld console at the same time, hence ditching the formula and combining them into two and merging all their teams together.

Nintendo dominates the handheld the space, then we have the new PC handheld players in town, and let’s be honest Valve is a hell of a lot more consumer focussed then Nintendo or Sony are, but they’ve launched a device that’s thinking outside the box and has gained huge community support and has sold in very good numbers as a result and they are committed to compete in the handheld market going forward.

All Sony will be doing is releasing a handheld that most likely runs PS5 or 6 games natively with poorer graphics, what Microsoft has done with Series S, and as a result it’ll hold back game development too, as Microsoft has done.

It just sounds like a boring edition to Sonys lineup that will sell poorly and no doubt be priced massively for what it offers.
I think Sony and Microsoft will be in for a shock and a hard battle if they launch new devices into the handheld games market. And that’s ignoring the fact any phone or tablet can remotely play or cloud play their games anyway.

I have a Steam Deck OLED, it isn’t perfect, but it’s more than enough to keep me away from a Sony handheld. The only handheld I’d be interested in is a Switch 2, and if Sony charges £600 or more for the standard PS6 it might be my ONLY console too if it gets the third party support…

@naruball

Handhelds weren't popular at the time?
I can't say that I agree.

I would say that the DS and 3DS sold very good (especially the DS) On top of that you have the PSP which also sold well (whether or not that was thx to piracy being easily achieved on it is a different question)

and before those you had the gameboys that also sold really really well. And SEGA had the GameGear and there were other handheld gaming devices in the 90's as well.

And before that you had the game & watch games

I'd say that by the time the Vita came to be, we all had a very good idea of what a handheld gaming system was. And they were popular as well.
Like I said, the Nintendo DS is one if not the best selling handheld of all time (has the Switch surpassed it in sales now?)
The NDS sold almost as many units as the PS2! Imagine that..
"154.02 million units worldwide"

So yeah we all knew very very well what handhelds were.

The 3DS struggled mainly for the same reason as the Wii U.
People thought it was just an upgraded DS.
But it only struggled in the beginning and after more games were released and the confusion was cleared up as well as it receiving a price drop it started selling really well.
(Yes for a long time the took a loss at hardware sales but it didn't stay that way, and also I believe most of their revenue comes from the games anyway)

The Vita however was way more expensive and had that expensive proprietary storage and I am pretty sure that's the main reason why it flopped, that was the reason I didn't get one until 5 years later. And at the time people online were bashing the thing for being too expensive to buy.

Nah. I'm not really into portable game consoles anymore due to health issues. They hurt my hands, my back, and my neck. I play my Nintendo Switch in docked mode basically 99.9% of the time.

Loved them when I was a kid, but as an adult, not so much.

Yes. The portal is trash and was made for nobody. There's massive potential there especially with pssr helping games run better.

@Balaam_

The draw is simple. It affords one the time to game when life is busy and other things sit at a higher priority.

I have 3 large oleds in my home(ranging from 65-77") a media room, and multiple high end audio setups to pair along with my xboxes and ps5 pro. I also have a more than capable gaming rig. Yet at my age with my career and my family life, time is a luxury I just do not have.

Enter portable gaming. I play most of my games on 3 devices. The ps portal linked to my ps5 pro, the switch oled, and the steam deck synching to gamepass and my series x via xbplay. All are played primarily from my bed before i sleep.

Its not that I dont have the space or the setups, its just I lack the time. (Also the older i get the earlier i sleep.)

Never question others reasons, in the end its all about priorities and sleep/family/work are mine. Just like gaming may be yours.

@Stickleman 100% agree, I think the oled steamdeck has been the console of this gen. Plus it's opened my eyes to pc gaming and its pretty sweet tbf....

Umm no.
Hell no.
Go big or go home.

Sony would need to do two things for me to be interested. They’d need to acknowledge Nintendo as a competitor and they’d also need to not murder the system like the vita with proprietary memory sticks and such that Sony couldn’t even keep in stock.

I definitely can’t imagine the ps6 doing very well if it’s priced higher than ps5 pro, especially if there’s still a general lack of exclusives and direction that appeals to their player base. I worry they’re charging headfirst into a wall, maybe several years away but it’s there.

@themightyant of course there are some complexities to it, but Sony has great architects and the ability to get custom chips made. Consoles are also not especially CPU dependant anyways so an APU can do the needed heavy lifting on the go and docked. People already sorta do this in practice with handheld PCs/notebooks/SBCs and the results are pretty cool (check ETA prime f.e. on YouTube).
Most of these solutions depend on usb4 or oculink which have limited data bandwidth, but a proprietary PCI like connector would make for lossless GPU usage. There's actually a mini pc from beelink that does that.
All in al, the tech is here, Sony just needs to find a cost-effective way to make it happen.

@themightyant as long as they don't split up the game ecosystem I think they're good. Switching over to an x86 architecture with the PS4 was a smart move that can make it possible having a combined library. Also forgot to mention, with machine learning coming consoles might not have to so heavily depend on brute computing power but can implement frame generation and upscaling to achieve good results with less power draw. We'll see.

After the Vita? Hell no. Hell even looking at the PS5, hell no. Get a Steam Deck or similar with millions of games? Or get a locked down portable Playstation, that, knowing Sony, won't be supported very well, and all my existing digital purchases wouldn't work on it but they'd sell me ports of my existing games like they're somehow new.

I don't use a handheld other than portal and my switch remains docked. I want Sony studios to remain focussed on cutting edge games for PS5.
Given the above, I hope they don't use resources to produce another platform.

@DaniPooo thanks for completely missing my point. Must have taken some effort.

Giving how much I'm using my PS Portal nowadays. I would happily buy the next iteration of the PS portable devices.

not realy into these devices.
somehow for me it sucks, gaming on the go, it only works for me with jrpg's, other games play clunky.

Just make PS5 connect without internet ( like ps4 - vita ) with portal - problem cheaply solved Sony !

"I'm not sure". Like handhelds but gameplay of 9th gen is so boring I can't say absolutely. I don't touch/won't buy a PS5/Series & have access to them from family. Sony/west or east 3rd parties ideas are weak & haven't given me a reason to care about PS5 regardless of PSVR2/Portal/Dualsense.

Which for "absolutely" are Portal/Vita/PC handheld owners & will buy it vs actually care about games on it? 10+ years mindset change/new customers/old customers/dedicated/more choosy hmm.....

PSP balanced things better of western support but still. Vita was not just marketing but those who cared, I have no hopes for western gamers at all with a handheld & going 'power', but don't actually care if the games of particular types aren't there for them. Regardless of buttons/screen size.

Like Kadokawa it's From Soft, not the 99% of the rest of the company. XD

Portal exists to not do more than it has to no Android or dual screens so forget PSVR/Playlink smartphone dual screen stuff it was for nothing. They can't pull teams away to support it regardless so I don't think it will happen.

Jgames have had more focus due to how the west in is some studios but at the same time I hate waiting 10 years for people to understand remote play let alone make things happen, then abandon them later. Their back & forth is annoying me, let alone devs 'can't' due to sales/lack of trying regardless of risk, pubs/both have weak ideas to begin with.

PS1-3/PSP/Vita it's any, PS4 it's 3rd parties, PS5 it's no interest from either for me right now. Let alone any 8th gen & old for MS/Nintendo.

The state of gaming & worst gameplay ever of character movesets devoid besides basics for casuals, level design boring/weak in depth/personality, story/graphics, boring inspiration/realism pushed, less modes in other genres. No hope.

If 3rd parties are bad. If some good are on there sure. Had no fuss with Windows Phone or Wii U/Vita I haven't had issues with Indies/Minis/PS1/JP etc. Wii U was great eshop Indies/1st/Minis & mobile to Wii U.

1st party PS, I haven't cared since 2017 besides Dreams, so Gravity Rush 2/Knack 2 or before. Hence why I bought a Vita, Wii U, 3DS, Switch, PSP 2000, OG DS, N64, a 2nd PS3/360/Wii U. No interest in PS5/Series X at all. West/Asia.

I have bought old games for their mechanics, better competition where trends weren't so lazily competing like they do these days because mechanical depth & other factors are so boring. No nostalgia/or for the era, games I've never heard of to further my point.

Personality/substance. 720p, good lighting or grass texture then grass. I'm still playing for a reason of an intriguing product somewhere.

Vita is good & I'm buying Minis, PS1, PSP, Vita games off the PS store but that's because even besides the few PS4 games I've seen and wanted, I'm just not hopeful enough.

Sony cut their studios around Vita for a reason. Even Firesprite is leftover Liverpool devs in some cases.

Sony can try but they don't want to pull their teams away from PS5. That's why deals bridge gaps.

I don't trust western 3rd parties & I don't have interest in Sony's own titles so unless the JP/Asian side or GOOD west Indies, no interest in the slightest even if I enjoy handhelds.

A Steam Deck is cool to me because of the touchpad like Sony would offer and like Steam Controller did it's way, not it's power/weak battery life. XD

Other than Metro on PSVR2, what else is there to care about coming up?

if Sony does another portable system it MUST have a replaceable battery! my vita is not that old but caput and bricked due to battery never to be turned on again and no you cant just have the vita plugged in it needs the battery to turn on

@Mirror_D_80s you know you can open the case up and replace the battery right , i've found a few videos on youtube that shows you how to do it. i'm pretty sure the warranty has been long over with for the vita.

The ability to download games to it.

@twitchtvpat many thanks. i played my vita to death good to know i can replace it. recently took out my ps3 super slim and replaced the hdd with a 960gb ssd so many great memories and games i am replaying for memories and trophies (regardless of if game has trophies) psn trophies has a list of games without trophies. hoping Sony can work out a form of native emulation to run ps3 games thru ps5 soon. my region still dont have that ps3 streaming program

Probably not, but only because the steam deck is my new PSP. They missed a trick not getting there first for me.

@naruball No I just disagreed with your point.

@dskatter Rounding to 38 next Friday. Starting to feel it....