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
The point is that Sony has 116 million active PSN users. This is second only to Steam's 130 million active users. Sony has an opportunity to capture their large audience in the form of portable gaming.
What I find interesting is Nintendo revived the portable market with the Switch. Valve is using portions of the Switch supply chain to build out the Steam Deck. Sony and Microsoft can also use the same supply chains. I love the Steam Deck and my PCs, however, I also find the PS5 Pro to be a very attractive console, and I would be interested in a portable version with cross saves that runs games natively.
I am a big Valve fan, and I purchased the LCD edition on Day One. I've actually purchased all Valve hardware on day one. There still isn't anything on the mainstream VR market better than the Index. Some things they do very well with (Index), others that do well, and others they do horrible (Steam Machines). Steam Deck is a great product, but in my opinion they have only done well in so far. The product was released in basically a beta form. It has gotten much better overtime time, but still has problems. The Steam Deck Dock is another example, basically released in beta form and has had to have many firmware patches.
What Sony and Nintendo tend do, as well as Microsoft, is release a finished and polished product to the market (in terms of hardware, focusing on video games only).
Sony are responding to MS, Steam, Asus, Lenovo and the raft of handhelds from that Chinese vendor I can't remember right now. The Steam Deck has been very successful and the failure of the Claw to live up to the marketing has pushed the Ally into 2nd place. We all know that Nvidia are trying desperately to respond but they are out of touch when it comes to pricing so their APUs will have R&D costs cooked in. The other advantage Sony have (If anyone remembers) is their version of Direct Storage works faster than Windows and they have no need to build an OS. While PS1 3D Games are downright ugly by today's standards PS2 and beyond are quite viable. I mean the Chinese have started putting those retro Batocera drives into these now too. Regardless of how we feel about there is a market for them and plenty of tech media supporting them. They also already know Ryzen and Radeon.
I can see them doing something stupid like making it have its own game library meaning when its released there is next to no games for it and will be relying on publishers releasing games for it specifically.