People don't realize that the PS5 generation is going to be viable until probably 2033 or 2034. The cross-gen period is going to be way longer than this generation, imo. The PS6 will possibly come out as early as 2028, but it will focus on enhancements of games, not exclusive games for the platform, at least for the first 4-5 years
A 2026 or 2027 release for a handheld makes sense. Which would make it viable for 6-7 years for all games. This sounds terrible, but it is probably very important to keep the industry healthy
PlayStation is turning into a MAU platform. An advantage that PC gaming had for YEARS.
What do I mean by this? The perfect examples of this are GT6 and God of War 2.
Gran Turismo 6 release on the PS3 in December 2013... The PS4 had already launched almost a month earlier...People had to decide whether they would stick things out with their PS3 or move on to the PS4 but not be able to play GT6.
God of War 2 launched 4 months after the PS3 launched and it was a PS2 game... Fortunately, you could play God of War 2 on launch PS3s. God of War 2 would have been a great launch title for PS3, but then you lose out on the massive userbase of the PS2... largest in history (though how many of them were all gamers vs DVD player owners but I digress).
PC games have the advantage of ALWAYS selling to a large userbase no matter where you are in the console cycle. For the first time ever that will be consistently true of consoles, with the exception that console gamers buy more games and at higher prices than PC gamers.