- Sony is working on a new handheld according to insiders
- It’ll run PS5 games, but is still years from launch (if it ever releases)
- It’ll compete with the Nintendo Switch and Xbox’s handheld
Sony’s PS5 Pro has been out less than a month, but there’s already speculation about what its next gaming hardware release could have in store for us. And the latest report isn’t about some even more high-performance PS6 – rather, it’s that Sony is working on a new handheld that’ll be able to play PS5 games natively.
Little else is known about the project right now, but Bloomberg reports that sources familiar with the device say it’ll compete against Nintendo’s Switch and the final version of the Xbox handheld that’s currently being prototyped.
Sony currently has a pseudo-PS5 portable in the shape of the five-star PlayStation Portal; however, where that handheld relies on an internet connection to facilitate Remote Play, or now cloud gaming for PS Plus Premium members, this new handheld would run PS5 games all on its own – like a souped up version of the scrapped PlayStation Vita or PlayStation Portable (PSP).
Don’t get too excited about this possible return of the PSP just yet though, as Bloomberg’s sources added that Sony could still decide against bringing this in-development handheld to market – and that it’s still “likely years away from launch.”
What we want to see from the PlayStation handheld
So it’ll likely be a while before we get a better idea of what the PlayStation handheld could have in store for us, but rather than this being a Nintendo Switch rival we hope Sony targets a different portable console to take on: the Steam Deck.
This would mean Sony’s handheld would command a more premium price, which would make it a little less accessible, but it would likely come with a slew of possible benefits that could help justify the price, such as an OLED display instead of the disappointing LCD of the Portal, and software parity with the PS6 – which is likely to launch in a few years itself.
By parity we don’t mean identical performance, but in the same way that most new PC games also launch on Steam Deck – with some graphical and performance limitations if they’re beefier AAA releases – we’d want a similar setup with the PlayStation handheld.
This would also hopefully mean the new handheld would be much easier to maintain and less likely to get canned. Rather than needing its own dedicated platform of games like the PSP, Vita and (as a more recent, albeit not handheld, example) PSVR 2, it would rely on games that are already being developed. Sure it would require some extra costs to port those titles, but likely a lot less than an all-new dedicated portable title would require.
This is just one possibility for the approach Sony could take out of several viable options. All we really want is for Sony to support the new handheld effectively, and not let it join the growing graveyard of failed Sony spin-off consoles. Perhaps, given competition from Xbox and the growing dominance of mobile gaming, Sony might try a little harder this time around – for now we can only hope.