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[Bloomberg] Sony Working on Handheld Console for PS5 Games to Rival Switch

ShaiKhulud1989

Gold Member
Wait! So the whole article is basically 1 sentence without any concrete info? Lol.

Bravo, Takashi. So this is basically a Twitter inside rolled into a Bloomberg news article to manipulate the stock market. And legacy media are still surprised why people are not taking them seriously anymore.

I'm sure that Portable PS5 idea is floating inside SIE, but those ideas are always on the table regardless of how real or market-viable they are. It's just how big hardware companies operates. Point is, it's not worth to even engage in discussion at this poin because of how worthless the source is.
 

EDMIX

Writes a lot, says very little
So...basically another PSP?

also, did some of you fucking forget you could out this to a TV or is this some amnesia shit that people play to pretend cords that out to TVs were invented by Nintendo? lol

maxresdefault.jpg


>Releases PSP to rival the DS
>PSP is a great handheld and sells well
>Releases the Vita, barely supports it, lets it die
>Exit the handheld market
>Oh, shit, it's actually still profitable
>Come back after a decade after losing their entire market share.

The Vita was a great little system. Sony just didn't give it the proper support and poorly positioned it against mobile phones.

yea I don't think its that simple. Supporting something doesn't mean you'll get a market to magically appear. PSP and DS moved units you'll likely never see again by each company seeking to do this as this was a time prior to smart phones being everywhere, a lot of that market is now using phones to play puzzle games or facebook games etc. My sister and my friends mom love playing those games and they had DS, PSP etc, yet both just play that stuff on the phones now, its no longer a thing where you can really get this massive market

Even Nintendo literally needed to focus 100% of their attention on portable and still won't reach DS sales and Switch my be the most supported Nintendo system in history.

Support will not turn back a clock or make a market magically appear.


PSP's core market was hardcore gamers, media consumers etc, that market now can use their phones for one of those things and the most hardcore prefer to get those console titles on powerful machines

So I don't know who a PSP Vita 2 or PSP3 is for tbh I'm sure some of that market still exist btw, but not to the degree that some of you here seem to think...
 

odhiex

Member
I think the rumour about the 2 SKUs has some merits, considering this new report. I would think having a high-end (console) and a lower-tiered handheld would be a smart move, as long as they play the same library of games.


However, it would not be without challenges. If the specs (and also sales) differences between the two are widening, then it would be hard to convince developers to support both SKUs at the same time.
 

Mibu no ookami

Demoted Member® Pro™
They really want rock with Nintendo again?

Sony wants to be everywhere

Console > They've defeated Xbox
PC > They're going to launch a PC Storefront
Handheld > They're going to launch a handheld and get back into that game
Mobile > This is the trickiest for them, but they want their IP on Mobile
VR > Already competing with PSVR2, not willing to take the losses that Meta is taking to sell units though
 

Ozzie666

Member
Is this the XBOX handheld we keep hearing about? this is an xbox box, another one.

I really miss the hand held space and smaller products, but I guess the Switch kind of fills that void for Developers now. Being creative to get around graphical limitiations. Games that took advantage of the hand held development choices really shined. Great place for RPG's and games play in bite size or long session chunks.

Vita was so close to perfection, PSP for it's time was simply amazing.
 
>Releases PSP to rival the DS
>PSP is a great handheld and sells well
>Releases the Vita, barely supports it, lets it die
>Exit the handheld market
>Oh, shit, it's actually still profitable
>Come back after a decade after losing their entire market share.

The Vita was a great little system. Sony just didn't give it the proper support and poorly positioned it against mobile phones.

Sony were struggling to support 2 platforms and one had to go. Nintendo did the same.
 
Fundamental issue with Vita is making 1st party studios develop entirely new games for it. This solves it since it's just a handheld PS6.

You guys never know what you want. First it was "oh i dont want to just play games that already exist on a big console". Now its a problem there were so many games developed for the system alone. That was definately not the issue, because nobody wanted to replay the same game on a smaller screen and why Nintendo kept making games strictly for the DS.
 

Sharius

Member
portable doesn't mean it really need to fit in your hand, i saw some youtube with people mod their PS4 or xbox into something similiar with a laptop that you can carry around, why sony never do it but chase something like PS vita that flop hard
 
But I thought multiple skus was bad?

If this releases later in the generation and can run PS5 games with the same performance you get on base PS5 then this would be a non issue.

However, if it’s popular then expect PS5>PS6 cross gen to be even longer than PS4>PS5 cross gen.
 
Sony will focus on the power I bet and fail at the game part. Why does this all seem familiar?

This will run PS5 games and PS5 games only, the games are already there.

The days of Sony and Nintendo juggling home and handheld platforms with 2 distinct game libraries are over.
 

Gamezone

Gold Member
Why is everyone suddenly making their own handheld after the release of the Steam Deck? Would this happen if Valve didn't release the Steam Deck? It's not like handhelds is something new.
 
Why is everyone suddenly making their own handheld after the release of the Steam Deck? Would this happen if Valve didn't release the Steam Deck? It's not like handhelds is something new.

This is more to do with Switch about to become the best selling console of all time.

Turns out that if you treat a handheld as a priority there’s money to be made.
 
Is it even technically possible? PS5 hardware on a handheld?
Yes but it's expensive and these companies are super-stingy. For starters they could use a better node and a far bigger die with lower clocks. Most of the power consumption in these devices comes from pushing them to the absolute limit.
 

midnightAI

Member
What even is that tweet?

They are working on a handheld...
But it's years away
Or they may not release it at all

Talk about covering all your bases
 

Gamezone

Gold Member
This is more to do with Switch about to become the best selling console of all time.

Turns out that if you treat a handheld as a priority there’s money to be made.

Sure, but most of these handhelds are fresh, and the Switch is nearing the end of its generation.
 
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Zathalus

Member
The PS5 still consumes 180-200w and that is on 6nm. A handheld capable of playing PS5 games is not going to be feasible until after the PS6 launches at the earliest. Even on the latest 3nm die shrink you are not getting anywhere near the level you need to get the GPU to consume 150w less power. Then you run into the issue with memory bandwidth, even the latest LPDDR5x tops out at about 150GB/s. The next-gen standard of LPDDR6 tops out at a theoretical 230GB/s, a standard that is many years from achieving that frequency.

So to recap:

- You need to reduce your power budget from ~200w to 10w.
- You are still on RDNA, Zen 2.
- The latest 3nm node is insufficient, 2nm is a few years away and even that won't be enough.
- Bandwidth is a major problem, in order to match/exceed the PS5 you have to wait for newer version of LPDDR6 and use a 256bit bus (which further increases power usage).

How exactly would this be done in the next few years exactly? It seems to be a very long term project that could maybe launch next to the PS6 or probably even later. Unless it is not going to play PS5 games 1:1 and is going to use some sort of emulation to render PS5 games at quarter or half res. But if that is the case most games would look better on the Switch 2.
 

TrebleShot

Member
Sure, but most of these handhelds are fresh, and the Switch is nearing the end of its generation.
It helps that Steam is the main platform for the SD And has top of the industry practise along with its storefront.
Then the device itself is almost perfect, ergonomics are class leading, OLED screen is class leading and then not beint tethered to a tv or desk is extremely powerful.
 

TrebleShot

Member
The PS5 still consumes 180-200w and that is on 6nm. A handheld capable of playing PS5 games is not going to be feasible until after the PS6 launches at the earliest. Even on the latest 3nm die shrink you are not getting anywhere near the level you need to get the GPU to consume 150w less power. Then you run into the issue with memory bandwidth, even the latest LPDDR5x tops out at about 150GB/s. The next-gen standard of LPDDR6 tops out at a theoretical 230GB/s, a standard that is many years from achieving that frequency.

So to recap:

- You need to reduce your power budget from ~200w to 10w.
- You are still on RDNA, Zen 2.
- The latest 3nm node is insufficient, 2nm is a few years away and even that won't be enough.
- Bandwidth is a major problem, in order to match/exceed the PS5 you have to wait for newer version of LPDDR6 and use a 256bit bus (which further increases power usage).

How exactly would this be done in the next few years exactly? It seems to be a very long term project that could maybe launch next to the PS6 or probably even later. Unless it is not going to play PS5 games 1:1 and is going to use some sort of emulation to render PS5 games at quarter or half res. But if that is the case most games would look better on the Switch 2.
Your thinking of 4k or 1440p gaming. This thing only needs to be max 1080p and run for a couple of hours under load. ROG ALLY X is 80w battery lasts a good 4 hours with modern games. With pSSR and what ever else its very possible.
 

midnightAI

Member
MLID confirmed a PS Handheld was in development in February. I've brought it up multiple times, but it seems no one really cares unless a site like Bloomberg says it, even if they're running on less information than MLID.

I expect this device out by holiday season 2026.
Sony are always working on gaming hardware though in their Dev labs, so it's not a stretch at all..

You can bet in their labs they are working on things like glasses size VR and other display technologies, new types of controllers, new types of haptics, all sorts of stuff, we just don't get to see it.
 

Zathalus

Member
Your thinking of 4k or 1440p gaming. This thing only needs to be max 1080p and run for a couple of hours under load. ROG ALLY X is 80w battery lasts a good 4 hours with modern games. With pSSR and what ever else its very possible.
Yes, but PC games are designed to be extremely scalable and work with a split memory architecture. PS5 games are designed around that extremely fast SSD and 448GB/s bandwidth. So even if you target a much lower output resolution through some software magic, you might still run into fundamental issues with how the game was coded. But even if you don't, a game that was targeting 1440p (900p internal) for example, is going to be 720p (450p internal) on hardware that can actually scale down. Which with FSR is going to look terrible.
 

midnightAI

Member
Why is everyone suddenly making their own handheld after the release of the Steam Deck? Would this happen if Valve didn't release the Steam Deck? It's not like handhelds is something new.
Sony released two handhelds before Steam Deck was released, this has zero to do with Steam Deck, Valve isn't Apple, they didn't invent the handheld (Apple invents everything as you know, or Apple tells us they do at at least)
 
- You need to reduce your power budget from ~200w to 10w.
- You are still on RDNA, Zen 2.
- The latest 3nm node is insufficient, 2nm is a few years away and even that won't be enough.
- Bandwidth is a major problem, in order to match/exceed the PS5 you have to wait for newer version of LPDDR6 and use a 256bit bus (which further increases power usage).

How exactly would this be done in the next few years exactly? It seems to be a very long term project that could maybe launch next to the PS6 or probably even later. Unless it is not going to play PS5 games 1:1 and is going to use some sort of emulation to render PS5 games at quarter or half res. But if that is the case most games would look better on the Switch 2.
- The fan alone is almost 20W.
- There's nothing preventing the use of newer tech like the pro uses a newer GPU arch.
- No, it's not. It comes down to die size and clocks.
- Use a 512 bit bus like Apple.

It's money and engineering.
 

Xyphie

Member
The PS5 still consumes 180-200w and that is on 6nm. A handheld capable of playing PS5 games is not going to be feasible until after the PS6 launches at the earliest. Even on the latest 3nm die shrink you are not getting anywhere near the level you need to get the GPU to consume 150w less power. Then you run into the issue with memory bandwidth, even the latest LPDDR5x tops out at about 150GB/s. The next-gen standard of LPDDR6 tops out at a theoretical 230GB/s, a standard that is many years from achieving that frequency.

So to recap:

- You need to reduce your power budget from ~200w to 10w.
- You are still on RDNA, Zen 2.
- The latest 3nm node is insufficient, 2nm is a few years away and even that won't be enough.
- Bandwidth is a major problem, in order to match/exceed the PS5 you have to wait for newer version of LPDDR6 and use a 256bit bus (which further increases power usage).

How exactly would this be done in the next few years exactly? It seems to be a very long term project that could maybe launch next to the PS6 or probably even later. Unless it is not going to play PS5 games 1:1 and is going to use some sort of emulation to render PS5 games at quarter or half res. But if that is the case most games would look better on the Switch 2.

On top of this the high GPU frequency is really going to work against them in the mobile space. A portable that can play a Series S profile out-of-the-box without patches is actually achievable for Microsoft in the next few years though. A next-gen AMD 8-core SoC with 128-bit LPDDR6 with a 20CU GPU @ ~1.5GHz isn't too far away, whatever follow-up AMD has for Strix Point is more or less going to get them there.
 

jm89

Member
It's inevitable, sony would be daft to not try something. Portal is a great stop gap, if this thing is really far away maybe release a revised portal oled or something in the the interim.
 

ZehDon

Member
Yes, but PC games are designed to be extremely scalable and work with a split memory architecture. PS5 games are designed around that extremely fast SSD and 448GB/s bandwidth. So even if you target a much lower output resolution through some software magic, you might still run into fundamental issues with how the game was coded. But even if you don't, a game that was targeting 1440p (900p internal) for example, is going to be 720p (450p internal) on hardware that can actually scale down. Which with FSR is going to look terrible.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but not really. PlayStation is a multiplatform publisher, and most if not all of their PS5 games were designed around PC scalability. TLOUP1, a PS5 exclusive, works fine on the Rog Ally with the expected concessions as does Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart. There's not fundamental or physical limitations here. For PlayStation, like Microsoft, the issue will be cost versus serviceability. For the kind of hardware you need to push next gen games around, the price won't be cheap, and so customers are going to expect a lot for those price tags. Can Microsoft or Sony deliver more than the current crop of PC handhelds as mass market prices? Personally, I don't see it. Microsoft might pull out an "Xbox Mode" for Windows that gives their platform a temporary edge, sure, but if Sony releases a super expensive PlayStation handheld, it'll be DOA if all it can do is run PlayStation 5 games with worse graphics and approved apps like the PS5 does.
 
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Woopah

Member
We have a lot of illustrate users on this site telling us that Switch 2 will have performace similar to a PS5, so it seems that it might be true.
I've seen more posts from you saying "people think Switch 2 will perform like the PS5" than I have actual people saying that.
Sony were struggling to support 2 platforms and one had to go. Nintendo did the same.
Exactly. Supporting two seperate software ecosystems is no longer feasible.
So...basically another PSP?

also, did some of you fucking forget you could out this to a TV or is this some amnesia shit that people play to pretend cords that out to TVs were invented by Nintendo? lol

maxresdefault.jpg
No one thinks Nintendo invented a cord to a TV. It was the overall hybrid design that made Switch different to previous mainstream gaming devices.
 
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Zathalus

Member
- The fan alone is almost 20W.
- There's nothing preventing the use of newer tech like the pro uses a newer GPU arch.
- No, it's not. It comes down to die size and clocks.
- Use a 512 bit bus like Apple.

It's money and engineering.
Why do you think that fan is needed? Do you think the thermal issues with this SoC would simply disappear in a smaller form factor? And saying using the latest architecture is all well and good but the power reduction from RDNA2->RDNA3 has been really small. Even another massive 100% reduction (something that takes over 5 years at this point) won't be enough. 512but bus just leads to more power usage not lower (also vastly more expensive). You are simply not getting PS5 class hardware in a handheld in the next 5 years. Maybe something that is capable of rendering a third or a quarter of the pixels.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but not really. PlayStation is a multiplatform publisher, and most if not all of their PS5 games were designed around PC scalability. TLOUP1, a PS5 exclusive, works fine on the Rog Ally with the expected concessions as does Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart. There's not fundamental or physical limitations here. For PlayStation, like Microsoft, the issue will be cost versus serviceability. For the kind of hardware you need to push next gen games around, the price won't be cheap, and so customers are going to expect a lot. Can Microsoft or Sony deliver more than the current crop of PC handhelds as mass market prices? Personally, I don't see it. Microsoft might pull out an "Xbox Mode" for Windows that gives their platform a temporary edge, but if Sony releases a super expensive PlayStation handheld, it'll be DOA if all it can do is run PlayStation games with worse graphics and approved apps like the PS5 does.
None of those examples are running the PS5 version of the game. Its running the PC version. Why do you think a port is needed to different hardware? Its not something that simply runs on a completely different architecture. Which is what the handheld would need to be as the bandwidth and GPU capabilities of the PS5 are simply not something that can be done in a handheld any time soon. Its going to need severe cutbacks of some sort and that would need to be done via software.
 

xrnzaaas

Member
I'd be happier with a device capable of running PS4 games. A handheld for PS5 games is going to be another insanely expensive piece of hardware, bringing Sony even closer to copying the Apple model.
 

tusharngf

Member
Is it even technically possible? PS5 hardware on a handheld?

Edit: I’m thinking perhaps an ARM architecture and AMD GPU that closely resembles that of the PS5, but games still have to be reprogrammed and refitted to the architecture. Perhaps another dev team (like Nixxes’s job) doing the porting.
low resolution plus more cutbacks on graphics front yes its possible
 
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