Do you think Sony will mandate handheld support for every PS6 game?

Do you think Sony will mandate handheld support for every PS6 game?

  • Yes, every PS6 game will need to support the handheld as well

    Votes: 47 38.5%

  • No, handheld support will not be required

    Votes: 75 61.5%
  • Total voters
    122
  • Poll closed .
If the rumour is true then yes. Same chipset after all. Failure to do so would mean another Vita situation where first party forgets to show up because they are focusing on the home console only.
 
That option should be up to the developers' discretions. If they have time to port it over to a handheld, then that's another potential revenue stream for them. But if they are making their games for other platforms and PC as well, then they may not have the time or resources to do so. Sony shouldn't force their hands.
 
They will perhaps make a new / better way to stream games on it.

Devs will get some incentive to do a native version, if game is smaller and already being made for weaker pc hardware.

Cannot see PS6 only games working on it at all.

Am assuming UE6 will release with it and PS6 itself will be doing 720p 30 fps in a lot of them.
 
I don't know if it will be mandatory, but I believe that most games will have portable versions, which is a really cool idea in terms of using one library on both consoles.
 
Voted yes but ur asking the wrong question - Sony is never going to do another handheld again *That is a different development environment than their home consoles*

IE they will release a handheld that plays every PS4/5 game natively.

Developers will have to do no extra work to get these games up on the handheld it'll just work.
 
If they go in this direction, they should. Otherwise I imagine it'll be another Sony/Playstation product that they just send out to die.

I'm super interested in seeing what they bring to the table, and Sony is always fantastic when it comes to the hardware. But the long-term software support is always the biggest question mark with their "spin-off" products.

I'm not sure I'm interested if all they give us is 'case to case' games.
 
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For this to work, this needs to be mandatory or a hybrid console, no way that Sony is going to make a Vita 2, development for two systems is out of the equation.
 
I don't know if they will, but it would be amazing.

Honestly, I almost only play my games compatible with my Steam Deck, for the possibility to switch between my PC and my Steam Deck to play outside. Except some local cooperative games, I haven't played on my PlayStation 5 at all, because I don't want to play again a game only available at home.
 
They will. They see the challenged consumers spending 70$ on a garbage port of a 5 year old game, and they know they need be in that market. They will then have the advantage of having a powerful home console while also having a less powerful handheld that plays the same games. And the handheld will do Switch numbers.
 
This won't be another Vita situation that requires a different SKU for a game. I think the new handheld will be the next evolution of the Portal, with the added capacity to play games natively in addition to streaming.
 
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Not a chance.

If anything itll play PS6 games through streaming(cloud and console) but any games that can be downscaled will be allowed to run natively.
 
KeplerL2 said:
I don't think they need to mandate it, most games for the first 4 years or so will be cross-gen so supporting the handheld won't be a problem, and after that if sales of the handheld are good most devs will want to support it anyway.
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Yeah, people don't understand that Sony is betting on the very long cross-gen period between PS5 and PS6 with this handheld. And since this runs PS5 games natively (although with a performance hit if devs don't make a dedicated handheld patch), there is no reason to mandate anything really from Sony's side.
 
Topher said:
Eh....if you say so man. I don't say that in a smart ass way. I don't have a clue what devs are doing or will do. Only thing I know devs complained about with XSS was the memory configuration. Probably a lesson to learn from there I would think. Beyond that, we will just have to wait and see.
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Here handheld will also have much weaker CPU, this would kill ambitions for entire PS6 gen.

I hope they won't mandate it but I suspect they will.
 
DevonExplorer said:
Yeah, people don't understand that Sony is betting on the very long cross-gen period between PS5 and PS6 with this handheld. And since this runs PS5 games natively (although with a performance hit if devs don't make a dedicated handheld patch), there is no reason to mandate anything really from Sony's side.
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It won't run PS5 games natively, it's far too weak for that. Games will start having low power mode from now on and those games will be running on handheld.

Imagine running GTA6 PS5 version that runs in 30fps on home console on device that has less than half of power, is 10-15fps good for you?
 
nial said:
Based on a similar thread from the other place, I was curious to hear GAF's opinion on this. First and foremost, we know that it has the same architecture as the home PlayStation 6 console, which means that it's supposed to be some sort of low level SKU (like Xbox Series X and S), and with more rumors supporting the idea of it releasing at the same time as the home unit, what we're looking at is basically a PlayStation 6 Portable, Sony's first handheld video game console in several years after it discontinued the PlayStation Vita back in 2019.
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So the question is, do you think Sony will mandate handheld support for every single PlayStation 6 game?
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They prepair the ground and make the things easier possible to scale but they can't mandate something like this, even Nintendo can't for the switch 2 if games are designed for next generation.
 
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The handheld will be a PS5 running at 1080p, basically.

What I get of what Nishino said is that they are opting for a multigeneration user base with Top users ((PS6) and low end ones stuck to PS5 generation. It has happened this generations but a bit by accident, with the PS4 still having 40 or 50 million users active and spending even 5 years later, this time it will be better planned and more deliberate.

They will push for PS5 to get support until very late, if not all the generation. And the handheld will be a part of it, creating new PS5 owners even late in the game. Couple that with a digital only 2nanometers Slim SKU at a low price and the user base that doesn't graduate to PS6 as early adopters, and you have a feasible plan there.
 
They're supposedly doing this for PS5 games not PS6 games though right?

I don't see how they do it for PS6 games. The gap is too great.
 
Valve's Steam Deck initiative doesn't mandate support and yet devs increasingly opt for it whenever possible because of the optics and general perception that a Steam Deck verified game is going to be well-optimized for a full rig.

Nintendo didn't mandate that all games must play natively on Switch 1, we saw a lot of Cloud-games hit the system.

If you design your incentives well you will get good results, if not then not.

The issue with a Series S approach was not holistic, it was in how Microsoft approached it.
 
The issue isn't really visual scaling. It's function. The first 4yrs of this generation has been marred by PS4 games that had some sliders turned up and visuals features tacked on, rather than ground up next gen games that have rich, dynamic, interactive, simulated worlds. Even with some games going current gen only, they've yet to really push the boat out on this front. GTAVI might be the first example of a real lively world that feels like a step up.

A handheld PS6 with a clocked down CPU and much lower memory bandwidth could limit the fundamental game design, leading devs not to bother with making worlds feel alive, continuing to forgo physics, complex simulation and fun ways to interact with the world. Instead they'll just scale visuals with more pretty static stuff. Going into the PS6 gen, I hoped we'd have a couple PS6 exclusives really showing the system off and then some cross-gen stuff that at worst is limited by a base PS5. Then on the multiplat side, XSS.

If the CPU in the PS6 is drawing 50+w for eg. then for a 15w handheld as is being reported, that thing is going to have to be heavily clocked down / simplified relative to the PS6 to be remotely viable. So the basis for your core game design (functionality, simulation etc.) is going to be extremely limited if that thing is mandated for the entirety of the generation. I doubt they're going to want to make multiple versions of a game, so they'd just take the lowest common denominator.

It'll be fine as a PS5 handheld (with an eye to being a legacy system for the rest of the PS back-catalogue too), but as a mandated PS6 handheld for the whole generation, it's going to fundamentally limit the scope of more ambitious projects. You can scale your visuals to a point, but you can't really scale scope and game design in the same way.
 
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I would like Sony to try to get devs to use the handheld like the Pocketstation, not only as a portable version of the game, that would make games more interesting and give another reason for players to own both the home console and the handheld, and would work better with the power limitations of a handheld console.
 
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No, because they will fuck up, like they always do to some capacity, and also use it to as a way push premium PS+ subscriptions/streaming.
 
What I'd love to see is a rolling migration of prior platforms to different handheld form factors. But utilising the latest chipsets of new gen consoles with hardware level back compat and increased architectural efficiency to maximise performance and power/thermals for those prior generation games.

A "PlayStation Pocket" that is a true portable/pocketable handheld using a Vita-formfactor with a heavily cut down chip that runs PS4 + PS2/PS1/PSP/PSVita, plus streaming of all of the same + PS3.

A "PlayStation Portable" that is a chunkier version of the Portal-formfactor with a large, advanced battery and a partially cut down chip that runs PS5/PS4 Pro + PS2/PS1/PSP/PSVita, and again of all the same + PS3. It also doubles as a Portal/Remote Player for PS6/PS5. In handheld mode it acts as a roughly half-power PS5 and in docked mode it acts as a de facto base PS5 Digital, fully clocked up.

A revised "PlayStation Portal", the same as the current one but with OLED and a few refinements, supporting Remote Play for both PS5 & PS6.

These could all be part of the new "PSP" platform. Providing different solutions and form factors with fair trade-offs in capability.

Alongside this you'd have the "PS6" and a "PS6 Lite" (the latter ~55% GPU power, 75% RAM/Bandwidth & half storage with all other specs identical; scaling much more favourably vs the XSS<>XSX situation).

Discontinue all current PS5 skus (the PS6 Lite would make far more sense over a PS5 Pro at this point) and simply have a bargain basement, heavily cost-reduced disc-based SuperSlim PS5 to see the gen out alongside the Portable (which again acts as a de facto base PS5 Digital when docked).

For eg.

PSP:
  • PlayStation Portal - $199
  • PlayStation Pocket - $299
  • PlayStation Portable - $399
    • Dock for PlayStation Portable - $99
PS6:
  • PlayStation 6 - $599
  • PlayStation 6 Lite - $449
    • Universal Disc Drive for PS6 & PS6 Lite - $59
PS5:
  • PlayStation 5 SuperSlim (Disc) - $299

Then when you go into the PS7 gen, you'll bump up the second generation of PSPs to the next base platform as it becomes technically viable. The Pocket to base PS5 functionality, the Portable to base PS6 and the Portal will add PS7 remote play.
 
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The new Sony handheld will barely be able to play PS5 games, based on what has leaked so far…

So forget about PS6.

We are gonna have another 8 years of PS5/PS5 Pro/PS5 handheld
 
Considering Herman has confirmed they are only making 1 good game a year it should be pretty easy to make sure it'll run on their handheld.
 
God I hope so, it will be like the Series S of this generation and watching the same people who attack series S defend PS6P like their life depends on it will be super funny
 
There just aren't enough elements to have a worthy discussion right now.
Which kind of product it is, how they are positioning it on the market, how it fits with PS5 and PS6 given there will be a blurred transition with a super long cross gen phase like happened with PS4 and PS5.
Also the price, the obvious power limitations which will make possible to run PS5 games adjusting resolution and framerate but not full blown PS6 games.
Also given what they're doing with the Portal, some stuff might be relegated to cloud gaming only.

It's just too early to tell.
 
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L*][*N*K said:
God I hope so, it will be like the Series S of this generation and watching the same people who attack series S defend PS6P like their life depends on it will be super funny
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It wouldn't be like the Series S of this generation though because the Series S is a ~75W console that runs current gen games.

This would basically be a Series S a generation behind.
 
A handheld won't be able to run PS6 games. Best case scenario is that this handheld will be getting ports of PS4 and some PS5 games.
 
It's going to be really painful to support if pathtraced AAA games without rasterized fallbacks are the norm next-gen, and those games run at similar internal resolutions to what we have today (We see tons of games running ~800-900p60 on the PS5Pro for instance). It's a much more radical perf delta than XSS and XSX/PS5 is, we're talking about a device with maybe upwards of one fifth or sixth the GPU performance of the stationary console.
 
dgrdsv said:
A handheld won't be able to run PS6 games. Best case scenario is that this handheld will be getting ports of PS4 and some PS5 games.
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So Sony is going to release a handheld in 2 to 3 years at the same performance level of the Steam Deck which is already over three years old? Gotcha.

Look at the Switch 2, you can pull off a lot with a handheld. The ROG Xbox Ally X should but the rest of the naysayers to rest. You to can hold unlimited portable power today in the palm of your hands.

With the anemic trickle of games on the PS5, I'd be very surprised if cross gen doesn't happen across the entire PS6 generation.
 
The only thing I don't want to see is another generation go by where we are all locked into the generation with another Series S situation.
 
dgrdsv said:
Best case scenario is that this handheld will be getting ports of PS4 and some PS5 games.
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What would be the point in that though? We already have handhelds that can to that and a hell of a lot more.

Unless they make new exclusive games for it (unlikely), or its Steam deck like machine (also unlikely) I don't see it doing very well.
 
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SScorpio said:
So Sony is going to release a handheld in 2 to 3 years at the same performance level of the Steam Deck which is already over three years old? Gotcha.
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Pretty much. Being a fixed platform will help it a bit but it's still going to land in the same place as Vita did - i.e. a place where no one will have an incentive to support it.

SScorpio said:
Look at the Switch 2, you can pull off a lot with a handheld.
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I'm not seeing anything special in Sw2, what do you mean?
Nintendo's handheld strategy is to have only handheld and support it exclusively with own s/w. This isn't what Sony has been or will be doing - unless they're planning to call it PS6.

SScorpio said:
The ROG Xbox Ally X should but the rest of the naysayers to rest. You to can hold unlimited portable power today in the palm of your hands.
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A power of the Steam Deck from 2+ years ago which struggles at running anything from current console gen you mean?

SScorpio said:
With the anemic trickle of games on the PS5, I'd be very surprised if cross gen doesn't happen across the entire PS6 generation.
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It won't. Technically impossible to put home console s/w onto a handheld without seriously limiting the former or remaking it for the latter.
As you've said - look at Switch 2. It's the newest handheld on the market, and yet it struggles at running PS4/5 crossplatform already (CP2077). It will likely be unfit for PS6 games altogether.
So as I've said - PS4 (and earlier) ports/emulation sure, some PS5 games possibly, PS6 though - nah, won't happen, technically impossible.

clarky said:
What would be the point in that though? We already have handhelds that can to that and a hell of a lot more.
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I dunno. Sony's efforts in handheld space are as bizarre to me as to the next guy.
Maybe they're planning on using it as a streaming device akin to PS Portal for PS5?
 
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nial said:
BTW, before people bring it up, the low power profile for PS5 games not having access to unique hardware/software features from PS6 (like PSSR, which yes, it's available on PS5 Pro, but not on the base console), makes it very unlikely that Sony will rely on it for its handheld support.
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IMO that profile(taken at face value - I'm not sure I fully believe the 'leak' - but as a thought experiment...) is more likely evidence of upcoming PS5-S than it is any sort of handheld.

nial said:
So the question is, do you think Sony will mandate handheld support for every single PlayStation 6 game?
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It's in line with their current handling of hw-SKUs, so if it's a 'PS6'-handheld - it would only qualify for the name if it plays the entire library.

ProtoByte said:
Overall though, it's fundamentally a PS3 game on a design level.
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That's true of 99.999% of games released today though (design sensibilities dating back several decades, or more).
Like - finding something that 'isn't' designed like it could run on a PS2 is actually really difficult (especially if you stick to AAA publishers which are the least likely to take risks design wise).
But I digress - the whole point is most generational upgrades have relied entirely on graphical highlights being 'the' differentiator, it's just that we are running out of runway on those, so the lack of progress everywhere else is starting to be really obvious.
 
dgrdsv said:
Pretty much. Being a fixed platform will help it a bit but it's still going to land in the same place as Vita did - i.e. a place where no one will have an incentive to support it.
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The Vita's issue was that it was a different product and architecture that supported different types of games. This would just play the same games so while there are two performance profiles it's not completely different.

dgrdsv said:
A power of the Steam Deck from 2+ years ago which struggles at running anything from current console gen you mean?
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3+ years the Steam Deck shipped in Feb 2022. It has a portable targeted SOC that's two generations newer than the Steam Deck.

It sounds like you think the PS5 that struggles to output 1440p at 40Hz is some extremely powerful machine. Portables can render at a lower resolution, and the smaller screens let you turn down graphical settings as the differences are too small to notice. The hardware is out there today, and there will be another generation of improvements by this time Sony's is released.

dgrdsv said:
It won't. Technically impossible to put home console s/w onto a handheld without seriously limiting the former or remaking it for the latter.
As you've said - look at Switch 2. It's the newest handheld on the market, and yet it struggles at running PS4/5 crossplatform already (CP2077). It will likely be unfit for PS6 games altogether.
So as I've said - PS4 (and earlier) ports/emulation sure, some PS5 games possibly, PS6 though - nah, won't happen, technically impossible.
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The thing about the Switch 2 is that its power profile falls between the PS4 and PS4 Pro. And the Phantom Liberty area wasn't even released on the last gen version. There will be optimizations to bring the performance up to the full 30fps. It's also based around 2-3 year old Nvidia hardware, which again the Sony console will contain newer technology that bring more performance for less power.


Today we have the power of a PS5 at 45W, node shrinks and new architectures will move that out of laptops and into handhelds with 2+ hours of battery life which is the same battery life as the Switch 2 today.
 
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