Thursday, November 28th 2024
Sony Handheld Gaming Console Reportedly Coming for Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch Market Share
It looks like Sony is joining Xbox in the development of a standalone handheld gaming console to compete with the likes of the Nintendo Switch and Valve Steam Deck. According to a Bloomberg's insider sources, a Sony gaming handheld is already in development, and would be designed with Sony PlayStation 5 games in mind. Unlike the PlayStation Portal, the future gaming console wouldn't be dependent on game streaming and would, instead, run games locally, meaning it would likely need significantly more powerful hardware than the Portal has. This would be Sony's first true foray into the portable gaming console market since the likes of the PS Vita, which is largely considered to be a commercial disappointment.
Sony isn't the first of the console giants looking into creating its own gaming handheld after Nintendo's Switch. Obviously, Valve, traditionally more of a software company, already has the immensely popular Steam Deck, but we also recently reported that Microsoft is in the early stages of developing its own handheld gaming console. Details on the future Sony gaming handheld are scant, and there has been no official word from Sony about the console. That said, it wouldn't be surprising to see it equipped with an AMD APU, similar to the likes of the Steam Deck and the PS5, since Sony already has history and a commercial relationship with AMD hardware.
The rise of the gaming handheld has had some unexpected side effects, like the rapid growth of the indie gaming space and an increased interest in games that can be run on less powerful hardware. It also seems like controller support has also taken more of a prominent role in the PC gaming landscape. Gaming-adjacent software, like the Xbox Game Bar on Windows have also received drastic redesigns and optimizations for touch screens as a result of the increased adoption of smaller-screen gaming hardware.
It will be interesting to see what comes out of Microsoft and Sony's mobile gaming efforts. Since both gaming giants are also game developers or have development subsidiaries, we might see a shift to more efficient or more configurable AAA console games, which would generally be good news for PC ports, which have a bit of a reputation for poor optimization.
Source:
Bloomberg
Sony isn't the first of the console giants looking into creating its own gaming handheld after Nintendo's Switch. Obviously, Valve, traditionally more of a software company, already has the immensely popular Steam Deck, but we also recently reported that Microsoft is in the early stages of developing its own handheld gaming console. Details on the future Sony gaming handheld are scant, and there has been no official word from Sony about the console. That said, it wouldn't be surprising to see it equipped with an AMD APU, similar to the likes of the Steam Deck and the PS5, since Sony already has history and a commercial relationship with AMD hardware.
It will be interesting to see what comes out of Microsoft and Sony's mobile gaming efforts. Since both gaming giants are also game developers or have development subsidiaries, we might see a shift to more efficient or more configurable AAA console games, which would generally be good news for PC ports, which have a bit of a reputation for poor optimization.
32 Comments on Sony Handheld Gaming Console Reportedly Coming for Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch Market Share
Also, any consumer overlap means the products share the same market from both an investors and developers viewpoint. A kid can want BOTH a Deck and a Switch and it’s not universally one or the other. Most parents won’t buy both.
So the content of this article has implications for the entire handheld market where Nvidia has the Switch and most other handhelds are AMD. As a gamer and investor, I am interested in this new gaming form factor and would welcome other’s thoughts who use any handheld including the Switch and whether or not you enjoy it.
The games aren't the same and I'd say they target different audiences.
The SD is more for the tinkering type. The Switch is for people who want something that just works.
They both legally have different games. The switch is to play with friends; the SD is to play alone.
In past generations Sony did well with series like Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Crash Bandicoot, Gran Turismo, Ratchet and Clank, SOCOM, Metal Gear...etc. but those are all some combination of no longer exclusive and/or not what they used to be.
If everyone else, including Nintendo, can use cheap SD cards, then so can Sony.
On a separate note but handheld wise, this is amazeballs
This is entirely aimed at blunting Xbox's own reported foray into portable gaming and seeing the long-term success of handhelds like the Steam Deck and ROG Ally, plus the unexpected popularity of the PS Portal. Sony still has a massive catalog of legacy PS1-PS3 era games it can quickly port over (or rather, continue to port over, given they've been bringing old PS1 and PS2 games over to PS5 with a built-in emulator layer), whereas Xbox would need to start porting over the legacy catalog of games that they now own the rights to, such as Jet Force Gemini.
Given some degree of commonality with the PS5 and with PC, a "PSP2" could allow for gaming at lower res and bringing back the old hybrid gaming concept they started in the PS3/PSVita/PS4 days where some games were cross-playable between the Vita one of the consoles, allowing players to save and pause at home, then hop onto the Vita and continue from there. In the modern day, maybe allowing for 2-way between PS5 and PSP2, or even 3-way between PS5, PSP2, and PC, assuming said PC games do have a PSN account linked to said game (and would also explain Sony's heavy-handed demands for a PSN link to Sony-sponsored games). I'd assume most games would be PS5/PSP2-ready, and shared between the two (like how some PSVita/PS4 games had copies for both consoles), but players would have to own a separate copy of the PC version to maximize continuity of play.
Basically like how some Steam games can be continued between both Steam Deck and PC, provided cloud-saving is enabled. But possibly more advanced, given that Sony patented the ability to basically near-seamlessly pick up from where one left off, or even share said game with another user or device to allow someone else to play the game for you. If tweaked to allow yourself to effectively pick up from where you paused on another device, it could allow for the truly seamless continuity of gaming that they tried years earlier, before the tech was mature enough to handle it.That's due to Vita being more expensive than the Nintendo equivalent, and the lack of games for Vita compared to PSP or even the PS3/PS4. However, the hardware itself has remained pretty highly rated, including its early OLED, and has seen something of an odd resurgence being repurposed via homebrew OS making it capable of playing plenty of emulated PS1 and PS2 games, to say nothing of emulating other, non-PS games.Given that Sony was on record about shifting to be a bit more agile in gaming again, I'd hope they'd return to fostering more support of indie devs and games like they did in their PS2-early PS4 days, when they released a bunch of budget and high-end games and just basically drowned the PS2 market with everything from the no-budget movie tie-ins to then legacy AAA games like Resident Evil and Tomb Raider, and later on PS3 a number of digital-only budget games alongside some heavy hitters.
The console makers have made and continue to make capital errors of judgment. Microsoft still thinks it can capture the market by buying up content creators and content itself, forgetting that every franchise has gone or is going stale rather quickly these days, and the few survivors are set in stone (like CoD) and can be played anywhere anyway, so that's no reason at all to buy console X or Y.
Sony used to understand content is king, and I think they still lead the charge on content that you'd rather have a Playstation for, but since I can just connect a dualshock to my PC and Sony is happy to port their stuff over to it, why would I now? To play the three system exclusives a few years earlier? Myeahhh forget it guys.
And now they bring us handhelds with the same ecosystem lock in? Dudes, wake the fuck up, this is diametrically opposed to the strategy of bringing more content outside your ecosystem?! Why would this work? Or is the idea now to just poop out anything you can, throwing shit at the wall until something sticks?! I don't get it. Explain the madness, as well as the broken strategy of releasing updated 'betterer' console versions... are they purposefully trying to eliminate a console's unique selling points now?
All the consoles really have left is plug and play. And even that... if you buy the correct PC, its also plug and play. Install OS, install drivers, install your preferred launchers and go...
And now we have a Steam Deck that manages to make a PC feel much more like a plug and play console, too - but can still do more.
Pray tell, how is Sony going to sell us a handheld now. The only road they have left is retro gaming on the olde Playstation legacy library. So they want to sell you old shit once more, stuff you can just grab a ROM for and emulate on Deck for free. Lmfao. Why would it work now when it hasn't before?
in the 90s and 2000s it was a different story...
nintendo ds on the other hand.... was better which i bought
I've largely grown out of handheld gaming, but recently had an interest in it again, but a Switch (or my Phone) doesn't really meet either of these needs and I'd feel guilty just to buy a Deck here when I can just play those games on my PC. A competitor in this space might be interesting, although I don't know if I'd trust either Sony or Microsoft (in reality Xbox) here.
Unlike most PCs, consoles are loss leaders that get their foot in the door of many homes, and then people buy games for them afterwards. Even the Steam Deck was sold as a loss leader, because it got a Deck into many peoples' hands. And sure, it technically could be used as a portable tablet with the Linux-based GUI, but the average joes and janes won't be using that feature, even if the knew it existed. The fact that "it just works" out of the box is also the same reason that most average joes and janes also don't do things like sailing the high seas for ROMs and Emulators, much less music or movie content. For the tech savvy, we're able to make PCs do basically whatever we want or need it to do to replace a console, but for the majority of the population, just being able to work out of the box is enough, without jumping through hoops or gray zones.
While Xbox doesn't have much to really push their consoles, Sony has an entire ecosystem they can integrate with Playstation, from music to movies and TV series. If they want to start selling PS7s with audiophile-grade tech, and 10.1.2 surround sound capabilities, they could. If they want to bundle in their version of Netflix with all the TV and Movie content they own as part of their PSN+ subscription and turn it into an all-in-1 Superpass to all Sony content, they could. If they want to keep pushing VR and evolve it some more as the tech matures, they could. Sony can afford to keep adding bells and whistles to their consoles because they have a broad reach beyond just gaming, whereas Xbox is entirely reliant on what MS is able to negotiate for.
In the portable space, sure, all that was considered too forward thinking with the Vita and its own early online accessibility via 2G and its advertised ability to being able to watch videos or play music online, but with nowadays tech, most won't bat an eye at having some of that multimedia capability on the go. If Sony chooses to integrate 4G/5G capability on a theoretical PSP2 via an optional SIM card slot again like they did on the Vita, that would give them a major leg up over the competition, none of which (AFAIK) currently have any built-in 4G/5G mobile networking capabilities.
So... they are late to the party, it will not take off.
It's certainly not a new form factor. The only difference now is that you can get pretty good graphics running on one. Of course it won't run RT well but RT is mostly just a money pit anyways. Rasterized graphics are vastly more efficient in terms of visual quality per watt spent.
Sony could have owned this market if they continued making handhelds but they didn't so their loss. They are going to have to offer something to consumers their competitor's don't. If I had a choice between handhelds from Nintendo, Valve, and Sony I'm going to choose Valve every time. It's just too hard to ignore how massive the PC game ecosystem is.
Other issue was that Sony never got that portable gaming is very different. They really pushed that the PSP was "console quality on the go" but people on the go dont want console quality. They want something usable on a small screen, easy to pick up and play in short bursts. See also: mario kart, pokemon, ece.
Most people I knew who owned PSPs used them to emulate GBA games on the larger backlit screen.
Any new portable console from sony is gonna have the same issue. Their 1st party titles have been mediocre at best since the PS4 launch. A remaster of the remake of the HD update of TLOU part 2 isnt gonna save a portable console.