(Eurogamer) The first plausible Sony handheld specs leaks emerge - but how capable can it be?

Thought this was meant to be a PS6 portable that would launch alongside the PS6 console, acting as a lower spec variant for more portable minded gamers, which developers would also need to target a la Series S - now it's a lower spec PS5?

This thing is dead on arrival, especially when Switch 2 will be in its peak sales years in 2027-8.

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Sony is so fucking stupid. Everyone in leadership who okayed this needs to be removed from the company.

A modern day handheld that can play your library of games you already own or through cloud would be a giant boost. No need to buy dedicated handheld games.
No it wouldn't be. The Steam Deck tops out at 4 million after 5 years. The Switch doesn't sell because it's a dedicated handheld, it isn't one.

If they do this, I will legit not buy a PS6. They've already set up so many pitfalls this gen, there's really no point engaging in the next if they reproduce a Series S situation and make it even WORSE.

Seriously about to buy enough Sony stock to ask them why the fuck they keep copying Microsoft's bad decisions after watching them fail.
 
pretty sure no one knows what this thing will be like unless you can see the future

you have people in this very thread arguing it will be anything from a streaming device, to docked console like the switch, to a hybrid, to a device that can play games locally but is handled like the Vita
Well, we do know that portable gaming is popular and we can be pretty sure that they have no interest in copying the Vita failure again.
 
This is concerning if it's mandated by Sony and not optional. The Series S situation was a disaster for Microsoft (see reasons posted elsewhere in the thread). Now potentially a sub PS5-tier handheld is similarly going to act as an albatross around PS6's neck. But then again, not mandating it seriously kneecaps the forward compatibility of the Portable with the PS6 software.

It's a catch 22 situation which Sony are walking into, the messaging of which has the potential to be confusing for people.

"It plays your PS5 games!... well maybe not all of them"
"It can play PS6 games!... well maybe not all of them"


PS5 Portable = Should play all PS5 games natively + Remote Play + Cloud Gaming
PS6 Portable = Should play all PS6 natively + Remote Play + Cloud Gaming
PSP = PSPortal2 /PSPortable....its just a Play Station handheld (Native play + Remote Play + Cloud Gaming) 🤔

This generation has shown that more power doesn't necessarily equate to groundbreaking or better games. It feels like software and game development can't keep up with the pace of advancing technology. I don't think next-gen games will cost twice as much to produce. In other words, software needs to catch up to hardware, and this could take like 10-15 years. Software optimization should be a priority. This is what we have seen with Nvida since the 40´s series.

 
YuckThis generation has shown that more power doesn't necessarily equate to groundbreaking or better games. It feels like software and game development can't keep up with the pace of advancing technology. I don't think next-gen games will cost twice as much to produce. In other words, software needs to catch up to hardware, and this could take like 10-15 years. Software optimization should be a priority. This is what we have seen with Nvida since the 40´s series.
None of that's going to happen if we're still saddled with sub 9th gen machines. Even if this PS6 Amateur was slightly above the Series S, it would still be a disaster.

Because Sony is intent to wreck their console, they'll be developing for 4 different console SKUs and PC (🤮) for the first 4-5 years of the gen. That's too much. Third parties are COOKED.
 
None of that's going to happen if we're still saddled with sub 9th gen machines. Even if this PS6 Amateur was slightly above the Series S, it would still be a disaster.

Because Sony is intent to wreck their console, they'll be developing for 4 different console SKUs and PC (🤮) for the first 4-5 years of the gen. That's too much. Third parties are COOKED.
Well, it's an existential issue for them to solve; games can't take 6–7 years to make, and the homogenization of game design/language is making games feel samey. I don't think is a hardware issue but a software and game design issue.
 
We'll see what they do, but it's weird like people are clinging to this idea that it's going to hold their console back significantly to support this thing.

The majority of game devs now live in a marketplace where they're already having to scale their games down to lower-spec hardware, to ensure they reach a wider audience, and the economy sure isn't changing that position + the success so far of the Switch 2.

We've also seen this generation's non cross-gen titles deliver the most diminished return in graphical fidelity yet. It all boils down to visuals already looked great in the PS4 generation...and budgets are becoming unsustainable with long dev times for micro-detail that I couldn't give a crap about anymore. Even on PC with an RTX 4080, I got the setup purely for performance at this point in games, and the rest for rendering. Also, many of the pretty AAA gamesa are coming out broken, and I'd rather pay for worse graphics to get something performant.
 
We'll see what they do, but it's weird like people are clinging to this idea that it's going to hold their console back significantly to support this thing.

The majority of game devs now live in a marketplace where they're already having to scale their games down to lower-spec hardware, to ensure they reach a wider audience, and the economy sure isn't changing that position + the success so far of the Switch 2.

We've also seen this generation's non cross-gen titles deliver the most diminished return in graphical fidelity yet. It all boils down to visuals already looked great in the PS4 generation...and budgets are becoming unsustainable with long dev times for micro-detail that I couldn't give a crap about anymore. Even on PC with an RTX 4080, I got the setup purely for performance at this point in games, and the rest for rendering. Also, many of the pretty AAA gamesa are coming out broken, and I'd rather pay for worse graphics to get something performant.

How it is supported (software strategy) will be more interesting, imho. Will it get exclusives? I'm guessing no, but it would give Sony the opportunity to let all of their studios work on smaller projects which would be very beneficial to those studios that typically grind away on AAA productions. Those titles could later be ported to their console and PC/Switch 2. Or is the strategy for this to just run your console library a la the Steam Deck? That water gets muddied a little with the existing of the Portal. If so, will everything be cross-buy? Would a device like that be enough to drive sales? I still think you need exclusive content to push that type of device as it will certainly be expensive. I guess you could argue that the Portal was expensive, but that's still in the realm of high end controllers. That exceeding Sony's expectations and probably lead them down this path. And speaking of expectations, I wonder what those are for a portable. Are they expecting PSVR-like numbers or PSP-like numbers? It will be interesting to watch if nothing else.
 
How it is supported (software strategy) will be more interesting, imho. Will it get exclusives? I'm guessing no, but it would give Sony the opportunity to let all of their studios work on smaller projects which would be very beneficial to those studios that typically grind away on AAA productions. Those titles could later be ported to their console and PC/Switch 2. Or is the strategy for this to just run your console library a la the Steam Deck? That water gets muddied a little with the existing of the Portal. If so, will everything be cross-buy? Would a device like that be enough to drive sales? I still think you need exclusive content to push that type of device as it will certainly be expensive. I guess you could argue that the Portal was expensive, but that's still in the realm of high end controllers. That exceeding Sony's expectations and probably lead them down this path. And speaking of expectations, I wonder what those are for a portable. Are they expecting PSVR-like numbers or PSP-like numbers? It will be interesting to watch if nothing else.

Doubtful on the exclusives, though I've felt for a while Sony should produce more AA games, and whichever land hard could be new AAA franchises I think they really need since they haven't created many this gen. Helldivers 2 was their only successful multiplayer game, and that was AA budget.

I don't really think the Portal changes much, since it's a pretty specific device, and they could even design it to work with the PS6 since it's just streaming content locally. I definitely think the handheld will be cross-buy with games, since that moves them away from physical which they're already trying to do, and at least this gives consumers added value with digital purchases. Their approach I think should be similar to the Steam Deck, where it can be a companion device for the core audience, and a standalone device for the people who just prefer portability + don't care that much about graphics (along with the Japanese audience). Another thing I hope they would do with this device is also push backwards compatibility + emulation on this device, since that is already a popular part of PC handhelds...but Sony could make it more convenient than setting up an emulator.

I'm curious how it will go, but given Xbox is putting their flag down on handhelds, and they're the most direct competition...making a portable in the age of graphics hitting diminished returns seems like something they should be in. The rest is them just pumping out games for it, doing the delayed release for PC, and if they don't just do big AAA stuff they can have more frequency of content.
 
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Well, it's an existential issue for them to solve; games can't take 6–7 years to make, and the homogenization of game design/language is making games feel samey. I don't think is a hardware issue but a software and game design issue.
The two are inherently connected. Don't forget, a massive part of the reason we stalled in game design last gen was because of the absolutely awful CPUs in those consoles. We got better CPUs this time, but now we're dealing with the shift from baked lighting and LODs to real-time rendering AND 60fps for most games after a record long cross gen period. Do you know that BLOPS 7 is coming to the PS4?

At least with the PS6, we were going to have a significantly more powerful GPU/CPU with an architecture more suited to the real-time pipelines and AI techniques that devs will have hopefully devs acclimated to. But if we're having to deal with a sub-PS5 handheld, the PS5 itself, the PS5 Pro, the PS6 (and potentially a Pro version of that console) and prepping games for PC ports - before talking about the next Xbox and the Switch 2 for third parties - a significant amount of the development budget is going to go around making sure all of these SKUs work and less toward bringing the game to fruition.

This is why the PS3 and PS4 had so many great games - they were either totally exclusive, or we had way fewer machines to optimize and design around.

Meanwhile, we'll only have 2 major games from PS Studios "only" on PS5 after half a decade into the gen.
 
You'd be right, "IF" Sony forces everyone to make PS6 games on this handheld. Otherwise.............it's a GREAT idea!
If they are trying to copy switch, they are gonna try to have every main game on the portable aswell, and it's a fucking bleak scenario.
 
The whole premise of instant compatibility sounds more like wishful thinking than anything.

Theres no way in hell that a modern handheld SoC will be binary compatible with the games made for the big old chips of the PS5 from 2020. It's way too different.

There will be a huge tech gap between the two and ports/patches will have to be made by hand.
 
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I still think Sony doing a handheld is a weird idea. Their main strength is their console and positioning themselves as "the most powerful console ever", etc. They should work on their digital ecosystem instead and the PS6. And maybe remember that they also got the PSVR2. The main strength of the Switch is that Nintendo is fully committed to it; every first-party game is developed with the Switch in mind. When you've got a PS6 to support and then also a low-spec handheld that has a different architecture, in addition to having games be cross-gen with PS5 and PS5 Pro, it gets fucking messy.
 
wait, they are going to release a downclocked underpowered PS5 portable when they are launching a PS6?

And first party devs will need to target both?

Am i missing something, this sounds even worse than the series S situation.
 
wait, they are going to release a downclocked underpowered PS5 portable when they are launching a PS6?

And first party devs will need to target both?

Am i missing something, this sounds even worse than the series S situation.
You have the option not to purchase it if you don't want it (freedom is everything)
I loved the idea of a portable running the same games as the PS6, like a real portable PS6
 
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You sure about that? I guess we'll see. I bet a lot of people would love a device like this. Especially in Japan.
Japan dgaf about anything other than Nintendo portables, that war was lost long time ago, what no one should want is some peripheral fad that would hinder game development on the main system
 
We already know they are idiots. They will do it because they copy everyone. And they want to expand and make more money.

As for parity, this is a PS5 device. I dont think it has anything to do with PS6. Its really too late to mandate parity. Every game already on PS5 isn't required to do anything. Mandating it at the beginning of the gen would be the only way.
You mean, clony?
 
I still think Sony doing a handheld is a weird idea. Their main strength is their console and positioning themselves as "the most powerful console ever", etc. They should work on their digital ecosystem instead and the PS6. And maybe remember that they also got the PSVR2. The main strength of the Switch is that Nintendo is fully committed to it; every first-party game is developed with the Switch in mind. When you've got a PS6 to support and then also a low-spec handheld that has a different architecture, in addition to having games be cross-gen with PS5 and PS5 Pro, it gets fucking messy.
Sony is largely "done" with Microsoft and have largely sealed up the home console market to themselves, now they are setting their sights on the handheld market.

Anyone who thinks this will be something that's aimed to sell Switch numbers is patently wrong, this is meant to expand the PS market and get 3P to increase their support for it ("does your software work best for handheld? Now we have an option for you"). It's meant to sell something like 10-20m units lifetime and get their feet back in the market, even getting something like %10-15 of the handheld market will be seen as a great success imo because for Sony it's additive volume.

This will also easily sell better than PC handhelds because Sony is the only other hardware maker (besides Nintendo) that have the platform, marketing, manufacturing and distribution to create any kind of demand here, the likes of Asus Lenovo etc might have good distribution but their incentives are far too misaligned to make any PC handheld be a mainstream device. Valve can do it, but it would require a lot of work and financial risk to get even close to what Microsoft did with Xbox (and undertaking these risks will fundamentally change Valve as a corp), let alone Sony and Nintendo.

The key question is how mandates will work here. Are they going to mandate full support on all future PS5/PS6 titles? Or is it going to be semi-optional like they're doing with the pro patches? If it's the latter then this will not really create issues because any super demanding game will just skip the handheld or eliminate certain features and be done with it. If it's the former with no Cloud-option for devs then then Sony will be hobbling their own console business like Xbox did.
 
Series S also uses ~60-80W of power in game usage, FAR higher than any handheld device can sustain. This device would have to use very advanced manufacturing and handheld chipsets to be even baseline functional, which means $$$$$.

I really don't get it. The gap is too large between this and PS5, let alone this and PS6. If this thing is targeted "gimped PS5", what happens when PS6 comes out? All it would do is extend out the PS5 generation indefinitely. Does Sony want that? I would imagine they prefer people buy new hardware. This seems like it is coming out wayyyy too late to be viable.

I can't think of any market where that is the case and these high powered handhelds are niche devices.
I honestly think that the PS6 will be a ray tracing box if anything. I think the leap from PS5 to PS6 will probably be smaller than PS4 - PS5. Yes it will run at better frame rates and resolutions but the PS5 should still be able to run PS6 games. Depending on the price of the console I would expect a longer cross generation since PS5 will have the bigger base and if this handheld comes out it will be less powerful then a PS5.
 
a handheld makes a lot of sense to not totally abandon the japanese market. it makes a lot more sense than VR2 where someone forgot to tell the hw guys that the sony studios don't want to support it. unified library could be a lot easier than VR too games, which would have been something they could have done, but not even that was possible. without wasting time with vr2 we possibly could have had a ps4p at the end of the ps4 cycle.
 
but the PS5 should still be able to run PS6 games
not a chance if the software actually makes use of what the new features will offer.
Raw power will not make giant jumps anymore, but the whole RT, ML Upscaler/framegen and neural rendering toolbox will make anything that extensively uses it nigh unplayable on PS5.
But we`ll once again have a long cross-gen period so that is an issue for ~2031+ or so.
 
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If this is accurate I don't understand what they're targeting. A PS5 handheld that releases near PS6? I think this means PS6 could be a seamless gen, like PS5 Pro Pro or something. Will this get its own games or PS5 and 6 games? I think Portal was the better idea. Fit the platform better.
Given that cross-gen will be even longer this time around, releasing a handheld that can play PS5 games makes a lot of sense. If it launches in 2027, it will have new games until 2031 at least. Probably even longer.

And no, it wont get its own games. It will get PS5 games, but probably not PS6 games.
 
If there's no exclusives for the handheld, I'm probably a pass since I already got a steam deck and portal. If this came out at the same time as the portal I would have bought it.
 
not a chance if the software actually makes use of what the new features will offer.
Raw power will not make giant jumps anymore, but the whole RT, ML Upscaler/framegen and neural rendering toolbox will make anything that extensively uses it nigh unplayable on PS5.
But we`ll once again have a long cross-gen period so that is an issue for ~2031+ or so.
You got to remember Sony is in the console space with no competition and like I said how they price the PS6 determines how long cross gen will be. I expect to see the PS6 be there most expensive console at launch and they can do it now that they don't have the competition in the console space.
 
You got to remember Sony is in the console space with no competition and like I said how they price the PS6 determines how long cross gen will be. I expect to see the PS6 be there most expensive console at launch and they can do it now that they don't have the competition in the console space.
that kinda got nothing to do with your statement that "Ps5 should be able to run PS6 games" which definitely shouldn`t be the case outside of crossgen releases. And while crossgen periods might have gotten longer they still aren`t a permanent thing. At some point customers want to see the new fancy stuff, developers will use the new tools and software will not be able to simply scale to last gen hardware anymore.
 
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Less than PS5.....Which devs need to account for when making their games.

GG with that one Sony.

If true of course, could be bollocks.

Your instinct are kicking in for a reason, because you're right. This makes NO sense, "IF" the goal is to make a PS5-lite handheld that plays every PS6 game. I refuse to believe Sony is that stupid! We are missing something here.
 
If you are a third-party developer and there exists two versions of PS6, one stronger table top and one weaker handheld, it naturally follows that the games will be made to be playable on both systems. Since you want money from all PS6 owners if possible. Good if you want the handheld system. Not so good if you want powerful games on the table top not restricted by the handheld.

I do not think that Sony would be that stupid. Which makes me wonder. Could it be that Sony simply will copy Nintendo and release a hybrid? Because I see no other way that this would work.
 
that kinda got nothing to do with your statement that "Ps5 should be able to run PS6 games" which definitely shouldn`t be the case outside of crossgen releases. And while crossgen periods might have gotten longer they still aren`t a permanent thing. At some point customers want to see the new fancy stuff, developers will use the new tools and software will not be able to simply scale to last gen hardware anymore.

We are in here talking about a PS6 handheld that's weaker than a PS5 running PS6 games. That right there is telling you how these games could basically be played on a PS5. Sure customers will still see the fancy stuff but I think with consoles now we are reaching to the point of scale. Spider-man 2 minimum requirements is a 1650 sure it can't run the game nowhere near a 4090 and 5090 but it's playable.
 
We are in here talking about a PS6 handheld that's weaker than a PS5 running PS6 games.
Which it wont outside of crossgen releases UNLESS Sony mandates releases which would simply cut off software progress and fuck a whole hardware generation over.
Sure customers will still see the fancy stuff but I think with consoles now we are reaching to the point of scale. Spider-man 2 minimum requirements is a 1650 sure it can't run the game nowhere near a 4090 and 5090 but it's playable.
Very bad example. SM2 is a game firmly rooted in PS4 era tech. Aside from some tacked on optional RT and higher streaming speed for the fast swinging, upped resolutions etc. there is nothing "current gen" about that game. The moment things like RTGI and VG become standard as we can see with Anvil and IdTech already suddenly there is a hard cutoff and the same will happen with PS6 releases that use stuff from the new toolbox.
Same as with all other gens before.....
This idea that things do not progress anymore and are just infinitely scalable is just plain wrong.
 
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When it happens, Sony won't require or demand developers to have their games compromised to run on the system. That will be a choice. If the game can't run on it natively, there will be a streaming option.

So no, it won't be a Series S situation. There will be games compatible with it and games that are not. Simple as that. And given the staggering amount of games that have released in just the past 10 years alone, there will be a VERY robust library. We are already at the point of diminishing returns and not every new game released demands the power of a PS5 (obviously). That won't change for PS6 either.
 
Which it wont outside of crossgen releases UNLESS Sony mandates releases which will simply cut off software progress and fuck a whole hardware generation over.

Very bad example. SM2 is a game firmly rooted in PS4 era tech. Aside from some tacked on RT and higher streaming speed for the fast swinging, upped resolutions etc. there is nothing "current gen" about that game. The moment things like RTGI and VG become standard as we can see with Anvil and IdTech already suddenly there is a hard cutoff and the same will happen with PS6 releases that use stuff from the new toolbox.
Same as with all gens before.....
What PS5 first party game has been released where the minimum requirement is over a 10 series gpu? There's not very many. The point is the games can be scaled that low. I'm not saying Sony won't reach a point where games are coming out exclusively to PS6 but I think it will be longer on the cross gen this time. Only thing that I could see lessen PS5 support are PC releases since there is another userbase for Sony to sell too.
 
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What PS5 first party game
lol forget Sony this gen. They didn`t do squat on the technological side thanks to their completely fucked up GAAS venture.
Considering that 99.9% of releases are 3rd party they simply don`t matter in that regard, though. Rockstar, Id-Software, Remedy, game Science, fkin Ubisoft etc. have all lapsed them.
I'm not saying Sony won't reach a point where games are coming out exclusively to PS6 but I think it will be longer on the cross gen this time.
Cross gen will definitely be long, never claimed otherwise. That´s simply due to game budgets alone.
 
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lol forget Sony this gen. They didn`t do squat on the technological side thanks to their completely fucked up GAAS venture.
Considering that 99.9% of releases are 3rd party they simply don`t matter.

Sony doesn`t matter. Their days of pushing the envelope seem to be over. That´s now mostly done by 3rd party.
Cross gen will definitely be long, though, never claimed otherwise. That´s simply due to game budgets alone.
Other than Rockstar, Naughty dog has been the only one to push the envelope. I have yet to see a game that surpasses last of us 2 and that's with all the third party games released so far.
 
Other than Rockstar, Naughty dog has been the only one to push the envelope. I have yet to see a game that surpasses last of us 2 and that's with all the third party games released so far.
Absolutely ridiculously ignorant statment after games like Wukong, Silent Hill2, Avatar, Assassins Creed Shadows, Doom TDA, Alan Wake 2, Cyberpunk 2077 etc etc etc.....
Outside of cutscenes TLoU2 looks ancient by now.
 
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Absolutely ridiculously ignorant statment after games like Wukong, Silent Hill2, Avatar, Assassins Creed Shadows, Doom TDA, Alan Wake 2 etc etc etc.....
I'm sorry sir none of those games have surpassed Last of us 2 in terms of pushing the envelope some may look better. But in terms of story and gameplay mechanics no sir. You are out of your mind with some of your choices.
 
Your instinct are kicking in for a reason, because you're right. This makes NO sense, "IF" the goal is to make a PS5-lite handheld that plays every PS6 game. I refuse to believe Sony is that stupid! We are missing something here.

I agree.

There has to be some more detail here. just doesn't make sense otherwise.
 
I'm sorry sir none of those games have surpassed Last of us 2 in terms of pushing the envelope some may look better. But in terms of story and gameplay mechanics no sir. You are out of your mind with some of your choices.
we`re talking about tech concerning what is possible or not and and you come along with story...and gameplay mechanics in a linear mini-level game compared to massive worlds with VG and RT systems in place...wut?
Stupidity Are You Stupid GIF

You do realize that "story" is nothing that in any form counts as tech?
 
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Every PS5 game or every PS6 game? That's the question that matters.

It should be ps6 games, that's why i said bleak scenario, who gives a damn if the portable play old ps5 games, but if it has to play ps6 games it means that every next-nextgen game is gonna have a fucking tablet as baseline, not exactly what you want from your shiny new nextgen console.

It is already super bleak that greedy sony is gonna keep alive ps5 for more than ps4 so you can expect crossgen shit for the first 3-4 years, but the portable ps6 is even a step further into the shithole.
 
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If they do this. They will lose their install base to pc. Ain't no way the sony fanbase will accept a series s type situation.
 
I wouldn't want to be a company putting half of my ass into a handheld battle Nintendo's all-in on. That's a recipe for throwing money away.
 
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