PlayStation Planning a New Handheld Device

A brand-new PlayStation handheld console capable of running games natively is reportedly in the early stages of development at Sony. The rumored PlayStation device could be the first standalone handheld released by the tech giant since the PS Vita, initially released in 2011.

There’s been a growing interest from manufacturers in making gaming handhelds following the fruitful launch of Valve’s Steam Deck in 2022. In the past couple of years, the industry has seen major tech companies, such as Asus and Lenovo, release their unique takes with the ROG Ally and the Legion Go, respectively. These PC gaming handhelds have competed in the space alongside the more streamlined Nintendo Switch, the current uncrowned king of gaming handhelds in terms of sales. If the latest leak is to be believed, another challenger may join these products at some point in the future, with a long-rumored PlayStation handheld understood to be in the works.

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Sony and Microsoft Could Be Teeing Up to Compete On a New Front

The ever-raging battle between Sony and Microsoft may be continuing on a new front, as both companies attempt to push into the handheld market.

The progress of Sony’s next PlayStation handheld is in the “early stages,” as per a report in Bloomberg. The article mentions that the portable console would be able to run PlayStation 5 titles “on the move,” suggesting native gaming capabilities. However, the report said that the system is still “years away” from launch status while giving no guarantees about the handheld making it all the way through development either. Insiders also revealed that Sony’s remote-play offering, PlayStation Portal, which received cloud gaming support for certain PS games recently, was “intended” to be a Steam Deck-like standalone device “initially.” Moreover, it is understood that the portable Sony console currently in development “builds on” the PS Portal as its starting inspiration.

Sony Working on Gaming Handheld to Compete with Nintendo and Possibly Xbox

Bloomberg continued to shed light on the motive for Sony’s reignited interest in the handheld space, stating that the rumored handheld project is geared towards “expanding Sony’s reach” and eating into Nintendo’s giant share of the portable console market. With Nintendo’s Switch successor announcement slated for early 2025 and with Xbox testing prototypes of a handheld of their own, Sony is aiming to go up against these forthcoming portable systems with the rumored PlayStation handheld.

Based on the success of the PlayStation Portal released last year, Sony looks to be in a prime position to roll out another handheld onto the market. Leveraging the experience gained from its work on the PSP and PS Vita, the console giant would hope that it can provide some good competition to the unrivaled lead of Nintendo in this gaming hardware category.

Sony

Date Founded

May 7, 1946

Headquarters

Minato City, Tokyo, Japan