Sony is reportedly in the early stages of developing a new PlayStation handheld device which would likely play PS4 and PS5 games natively. The report arrives courtesy of the ever-reliable Bloomberg, which posited a portable console, while years away, was being discussed privately, as a means to expand Sony’s reach into a new market.
The PlayStation Portal, a cloud-based streaming handheld, is reportedly being used as a building block for Sony’s future plans. In fact, Bloomberg was told the device was originally meant to function as a standalone gaming handheld, much like the Steam Deck, before plans were changed.
Sony is seemingly looking to revisit this intent in a new handheld device, with the aim for this to be “more accessible and appealing to a wider audience.” Bloomberg notes Sony has been aiming to expand PlayStation’s appeal for several years now, as it aims to make its games more widely accessible, beyond the PS5 ecosystem.
Should Sony release a new PlayStation handheld device, it will likely be in contention with Microsoft – the company is currently prototyping a companion handheld – as well as Nintendo, which will announce a Nintendo Switch successor within the next six months, and Valve’s Steam Deck PC handheld.
Read: Steam Deck OLED review – An Australian perspective
The handheld gaming market is heating up
In the last few years, the race to create new gaming handhelds that allow a freedom for users has heated up significantly.
What’s worth noting is Sony was formerly an expert in the gaming handheld market. The PlayStation Portable (PSP) was a very early experiment with the technology, and proved to be wildly popular in its era, thanks to robust developer support. It’s estimated the console sold around 80 million units in its ten-year life cycle, making it the 12th best-selling console of all time.
Sadly, Sony’s followup device, the PlayStation Vita, fared much worse, selling an estimated 10-15 million units in its life cycle. While many factors influenced this lack of popularity, it’s commonly put down to a lack of developer support, with few major titles releasing on the console.
Following this release, Sony largely abandoned its handheld gaming ambitions, instead focussing on launching home consoles for the next decade.
Now, it appears the ambition and desire for dedicated handheld gaming devices may have returned – and Sony may once again dip its toes into the market. While Bloomberg believes a potential new PlayStation handheld device isn’t a sure thing, and Sony may choose to leave the idea behind should the market prove volatile, we’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for more updates.
