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

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.

I refuse to believe this. It should be a PS5 Portable because it'll be able to play those games perfectly! It just can't play all PS6 games. We all understand why, so I have to assume they know this information too.
 
I refuse to believe this. It should be a PS5 Portable because it'll be able to play those games perfectly! It just can't play all PS6 games. We all understand why, so I have to assume they know this information too.
I hope they make no portable at all, full stop.

Even the most optimistic scenario where it doesn't run ps6 games, would translate in third parties\first parties wasting money and manpower on portable games instead of dedicating all their efforts for home console games.

Not bleak at all for people who love portables, the bleakest possible for people who doesn't give 2 shits about them.
 
Last edited:
It just can't play all PS6 games. We all understand why, so I have to assume they know this information too.

They are doing the PS6 because of MS's new console. But all the games are going to be PS5 gen.

The PS6 isn't going to be that powerful anyway. Think of it more as what the PS5 Pro should have been. It's not going to be a generational upgrade.
 
Last edited:
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.
I do think there will be a PS6 "low power" profile as well. But I don't think Sony will make it mandatory. It will simply be available for those who want to release a SKU that can scale down easily. Not all games are graphical powerhouses anyway. The rest would simply work via game streaming. Mandating it will hamstring development and I don't think Sony are dumb enough do that. Could be wishful thinking on my part!
 
I do think there will be a PS6 "low power" profile as well. But I don't think Sony will make it mandatory. It will simply be available for those who want to release a SKU that can scale down easily. Not all games are graphical powerhouses anyway. The rest would simply work via game streaming. Mandating it will hamstring development and I don't think Sony are dumb enough do that. Could be wishful thinking on my part!
With modern sony you always have to think to the stupidest, greediest option available.

Better be pessimistic and have a surprise than the opposite.
 
By all accounts PS Portal is far more successful than they thought it would be.

It's also cheap an a natural extension to the PS5 instead of being a potential alternative/competitor. A PS5 owner is much more likely to drop $200 to get the Portal than $500+ to get the native one.
This is true, for the Western market, but not in Japan and Asia.

The PS handheld is necessary for Playstation to remain relevent its home country. Sales have been abysmal in Japan, and can only go lower with the success of the Switch 2.

It can be dangerous to completly cede a region/market to a competitor, and PS6 alone is not enough to retake marketshare in Japan.
 
You do realize that "story" is nothing that in any form counts as tech?

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?

Ok you said Spider Man 2 is based of PS4 and yet it has ray tracing in it and in some cases still doesn't look better than last of us 2 in terms of character animation. Naughty Dog Games are elite developed games regardless of tech. Red dead 2 still beats alot of those games you listed as well. Naughty dog and Rockstar push to get the max out of the console. Alan Wake 2 is a great looking game and it's subjective of it being looking better than last of us 2. Either way we are both entitled to our opinions. I'm just saying I haven't been blown away of what's come out this gen like how I was with last of us 2 and Rd2.
 
Last edited:
Ok you said Spider Man 2 is based of PS4 and yet it has ray tracing in it and in some cases still doesn't look better than last of us 2 in terms of character animation. Naughty Dog Games are elite developed games regardless of tech. Red dead 2 still beats alot of those games you listed as well. Naughty dog and Rockstar push to get the max out of the console. Alan Wake 2 is a great looking game and it's subjective of it being looking better than last of us 2. Either way we are both entitled to our opinions
Horrible bullshit. Opinions end where objective technological facts come into play.
And most of all this was about tech and what`s possible not if you like stone age graphics more than modern ones.
You have completely lost any coherence and are obviously completely oblivious to any kind of rendering tech beyond "i like it", I don`t know why you ever tried to discuss with literally zero insight how any of this works....
 
Last edited:
Indeed, I wasted time talking to someone with the technological understanding of a worm.

Go touch some grass you pompous bitch. I said what I said. Most the games that have came out this gen have not looked as good as what I listed now go cry about it you overgrown bitch made man child.
 
Go touch some grass you pompous bitch. I said what I said. Most the games that have came out this gen have not looked as good as what I listed now go cry about it you overgrown bitch made man child.
God it really is frustrating that people as stupid as you are literally too stupid to understand how stupid they are.
 
God it really is frustrating that people as stupid as you are literally too stupid to understand how stupid they are.

it's extremely frustrating dealing with someone that has the social skills of an 11 year old. I can already tell you already avoid conversations with real humans in real life. I bet the closest you got to getting a piece of ass was sniffing a seat you weirdo.
 
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.
It will not get exclusives, it's on each platform holder's best interests to have an unified library, and granting exclusive games to the baseline system is not a good idea.
A big point is for it to play your existing library of PS4 and PS5 games, kinda like the Portal, except that everything will be locally playable. Native PS4 BC will be easy, but native PS5 BC is where things get complicated, and it's the reason Sony is right now preparing the low power profile of these games to have them ready for the handheld. Everything will be cross-buy in the same way a digital PS4/PS5 game can be played on every PS5 you have.
Is that enough to drive sales without the exclusive content? The big selling point besides playing PS4/PS5 games, is the fact that it will play PS6 games as well. It's a PlayStation 6 Portable; now, most people think that everything will be cross-gen for a few years, so it wouldn't be playing PS5 games instead? The answer is, Sony will still offer a low power profile for PS6 games because it will have access to modern tech solutions not available on baseline PS5, including their own AI upscaling method, PSSR, which will greatly help the handheld.
It doesn't need exclusives in the same way a Xbox Series S didn't need games not available on Xbox Series X, it's just another PS6. You can opt for either a handheld or home console that generation, and still account for one PS6 unit sale. People were saying that Sony will have a hard time selling a PS6 because graphical fidelity will not be a huge gap compared to PS5, but a handheld will improve the general appeal of the platform, and will offer users a different way to make the jump to the next generation if they don't want another box under their TV.
As for what Sony's expectations are? People don't really like to hear this and immediately assume low 10-20M numbers because they fear the idea of Sony making PS6P support mandatory for PS6 games, but the truth is that the R&D costs of the device will easily surpass those of PSVR, PSVR2 and PS Portal at grand scale, so it doesn't make any sense to push the PS6P as a complementary device like those. I would even say it's a stupid idea.
I guess their expectations are close to PSP, if we go by the idea of a portable alternative to the PS6 at a cheaper price point at launch, the only reasonable outcome of all this is for it to eat half of the platform's marketshare that generation. If we assume total 120M PS6 unit sales by 2034, I find it highly likely that, at least, 60M of them will be for the PS6P.
As for your initial point, I still think it's likely that Sony will be releasing several AA games around that time to appeal the handheld crowd, even if those games will also be available on the home console. I guess we will see the likes of Astro Bot 2 selling better on PS6P, while something like Hideo Kojima's Physint will sell better on PS6.
 
Last edited:
I don't care all the Specs. Give me a good price over the other competence, don't be a dick like nintendo and allow me play the ps store games and GOG and steam Os. Thats all. And emulators.
 
Case in point, I am thinking Sony will use a similar die to the Handheld for the (Base) PS6. Obviously it would have higher clocks and use GDDR7.

The main marketing point being to play games at 120 fps (with FG)
 
if the graphic are their main concern, they should think the size and the heat. because portability means not too chunky and goofy
 
They are doing the PS6 because of MS's new console. But all the games are going to be PS5 gen.

The PS6 isn't going to be that powerful anyway. Think of it more as what the PS5 Pro should have been. It's not going to be a generational upgrade.

This is LITERALLY impossible if the PS6 will have a Zen5 CPU and a GPU that's RDNA 5 based and around 40 TFLOPS with builtin hardware that works with FSR4 and PSSR2. Like come on dude lol.
 
Memory bandwith will always be a problem with these handhelds using low power LPDDR memory. Fastest LPDDR5X chips with 128bit bus (like rumoured here) will give roughly 150 GB/s of bandwidth. Thats considerably less than that of Xbox Series S's 224 GB/s.

Fastest GDDR7 chips with a 256 bit bus can give roughly 1500 GB/s of bandwidth. I'm assuming next gen consoles will use GDDR7.
 
Last edited:
Sounds meh to me a stripped down ps5 720dlss type upgrades to 1080p.

Maybe it's me but I also don't think has a catalog of current games that adopt well to handhelds. I'd never want to play a blockbuster title on mobile that's wasn't designed for mobile.

Nintendo owns that market and is why they are successful. Sony will have to diverse and spearhead slot of these smaller indie titles to gain a footing.
 
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.
How many pubs do you think will forgo cross gen? Makes PS6 a tough sell to some. They're almost better off just doing Pro++ if they're actually making hardware to support third party cross gen shenanigans.
 
Sounds meh to me a stripped down ps5 720dlss type upgrades to 1080p.

Maybe it's me but I also don't think has a catalog of current games that adopt well to handhelds. I'd never want to play a blockbuster title on mobile that's wasn't designed for mobile.

Nintendo owns that market and is why they are successful. Sony will have to diverse and spearhead slot of these smaller indie titles to gain a footing.
That's what is weird about the spec. I could be wrong, but I don't think people are playing the types of games on Steam Deck and Switch that require that kind of horsepower. I always imagined it was Dave the Diver type stuff with some retro goodness thrown in. It's also different enough for the PS5 chip that it could mean PS4 ports are going to need some dev hours allocated to them to get running. The Portal makes much more sense for my investing dollar. Especially in this uncertain economy.
 
And again, it's a PlayStation Portable. Not a PS5 or a PS6 Portable.

We still don't know what it actually is so we can speculate about every eventuality. DF in their article and the last few months of rumors suggest it's aiming for a high degree of PS5 BC and cut down PS6 games. It would be a PS6 Portable in all but name.

If Switch 2 peaks in 27-28 (which I too think it will) then how can the power of a MORE powerful device (the PS Portable) really be a problem? Your reasoning doesn't make any sense.

In regards to the question of power, yes it'll be more powerful than a Switch 2, but the issue is that it potentially won't be powerful enough to adequately fulfil the use cases of either PS5 BC or portable PS6 games.

The PS5 is already a hefty console to make portable so it's questionable how well this device will actually be able to pull that feat off. Remember that Sony don't have a cut down Series S version to lean on like Microsoft can for the Xbox Ally X if needs be. Sony are going to have to somehow get full fat PS5 games running on this thing and ideally without any intervention via patches. Needing to rely on developers to get 7-8 year old games working isn't a good solution (many are lazy - see the PS5 Pro support - and some don't even exist any more).

I'll spell out the problems on the 'portable PS6' front if they do go that route too. First, Sony are going to need some sort of mandated portable version, like MS did with Series S, to ensure the device gets continued support. That's the only way they can market this and count it as a PS6 sale like MS does with the S. But if they do that, it could potentially hamstring the PS6 because developers will need to stay mindful of making their games work to a PS5-spec.

Now, if people thought cross-gen with PS4 was bad enough this gen, Sony would be decreeing that PS6 will essentially be cross-gen with the equivalent of PS5 hardware for its lifetime... what, then, is the point of a new console generation? PS6 would in effect end up being just a PS5 Pro Pro. And why wouldn't most people just stick with their PS5, since presumably if developers can get PS6 games working on this thing, why stop there unless an artificial boundary is put in place by Sony?

If Sony don't mandate a portable version, developer support for the device could crumble as PS6 games get more advanced. That potentially causes a mess of mixed messaging and puts the onus on the consumer to research whether the game they want to play is, or will be, supported. I've seen it compared to the way Steam Deck does things, but this isn't the PC space. People want simplicity not just in the experience (ie. not needing to consult some compatibility list like their daily horoscope) but also in expectations (ie. I buy this thing I can play PS6 stuff). Remember that these are console players:

tenor.gif


So to me, the risk is a device with patchy PS5 support and lukewarm PS6 support. Jack of all trades, master of none. I personally want a PS6 console pushing path tracing, which should be more than doable by 2027, but I doubt this portable will be able to even keep up with ray tracing let alone path tracing. It will be another gen of developers being stuck needing to make uglier fallbacks for weaker hardware which adds time to already bloated development schedules.

There is also the question of price. The Xbox Ally X is going to cost $800+ according to estimates and the specs of this are even a bit above that. How much can Sony realistically chop off that RRP by 2027? $100? And how much will a PS6 console cost? I'd wager probably around the same.

What does a gamer in the market for a handheld see when this device launches and they compare it with a Switch 2?

The Switch 2 will have the momentum. 2-3 years of games behind it, probably a new Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Smash, etc etc by then, which they cannot play anywhere else. It'll potentially be nearly half the price of the PlayStation portable. It also has solid backwards compatibility of something like 99% of games.

Now compare that with a freshly launched handheld (read: unproven) which plays old games in a potentially gimped form, and newer games in an assuredly gimped form, for nearly double the price of the Switch 2 (and in the ballpark of the PS6 console proper) - and does what their PS5 can already do because a) it's the same power and b) cross-gen will be in full force, if not mandated?

I'd be shocked if people didn't just get a Switch 2 and pick up a PS6 console later.
 
How many pubs do you think will forgo cross gen? Makes PS6 a tough sell to some. They're almost better off just doing Pro++ if they're actually making hardware to support third party cross gen shenanigans.

That is what I am expecting. But for marketing reasons will be called PS6.
 
How many pubs do you think will forgo cross gen? Makes PS6 a tough sell to some. They're almost better off just doing Pro++ if they're actually making hardware to support third party cross gen shenanigans.
The PlayStation 6 will be a new generation console, yes, but mostly only in name. In reality, it will simply take the place of the PlayStation 5 Pro in store shelves, as the highest fidelity offering from PlayStation in the home console space; with the PlayStation 5 Slim remaining their entry-level device into the ecosystem and the PlayStation 6 Portable being it's own kind of vertical: likely the lowest fidelity device of them all, but with the interest of being a handheld that plays your entire library natively on the go.
 
The PlayStation 6 will be a new generation console, yes, but mostly only in name. In reality, it will simply take the place of the PlayStation 5 Pro in store shelves, as the highest fidelity offering from PlayStation in the home console space; with the PlayStation 5 Slim remaining their entry-level device into the ecosystem and the PlayStation 6 Portable being it's own kind of vertical: likely the lowest fidelity device of them all, but with the interest of being a handheld that plays your entire library natively on the go.

there is no way Sony can enforce a similar parity rule as Microsoft did with the Series S.

the Series S GPU is closer in power to the Series X GPU than the PS6 GPU will be to the base PS5 GPU even.
now imagine increasing that GPU power difference even further than that with this handheld, and probably also cutting the CPU performance down a notch or two on top of that.

they might be able to force game parity with the PS5 (of course not retroactively but starting with the handhelds launch), while also allowing for exclusive games on the Handeld, but definitely won't force parity with the PS6.
 
The PlayStation 6 will be a new generation console, yes, but mostly only in name. In reality, it will simply take the place of the PlayStation 5 Pro in store shelves, as the highest fidelity offering from PlayStation in the home console space; with the PlayStation 5 Slim remaining their entry-level device into the ecosystem and the PlayStation 6 Portable being it's own kind of vertical: likely the lowest fidelity device of them all, but with the interest of being a handheld that plays your entire library natively on the go.
Will there be a lot of companies making software for it that couldn't run on a 5 Pro? That's my fear if this handheld is truly going to run PS5 hardware. Hard to believe Sony will release something like that and immediately stop making software for it.
 
Dunno if they need to enforce a parity rule... just that the game is supported on the handheld and runs at a reasonable frame rate (ie: 30 fps + FG)

even that I doubt is enforceable.

the GPU performance difference between the PS6 and this rumoured handheld will probably be bigger than that of the PS5 and the Switch 2.
now imagine if Final Fantasy XVI needed to run on Switch 2 to be allowed to release on PS5.
a game that drops to 720p during combat and still can't hold a steady 60fps on PS5 and which drops to 1080p in its 30fps mode to keep a steady framerate, needing to be ported to a system with about ⅕ the GPU power and maybe ½ the CPU power.

this is the kind of situation the PS6 would be in if every game had to run on the new PlayStation handheld.

you just can't enforce parity there.
 
Which is fine. The PS6 will just run at a higher frame rate (+ FG) and higher resolution.

nope it won't.
what if a game is so demanding that it runs at 1080p on PS6? how do you port that to a GPU with ⅕ the power? and ⅕ is a very generous estimate btw., it could be ⅛ for all we know.

halving the framerate will reduce GPU strain by round about ½... ok, still not there... maybe lower every setting possible to the lowest of the lows... now you're maybe at a level a GPU with ⅓ the power can handle. ok, now half the resolution to ~720p... now were roughly there.

this would just about work for games that run at 1080p 60fps... what if this game ran at 1080p 30fps tho? just like FF16 does on PS5 in demanding scenes?
can't half the framerate anymore in that case, and were right back to needing ⅓ the GPU power. which means we would need to run at quarter res, aka. 560p.

you can say that 560p is ok on a handheld, and I'd agree... but remember, this would still only work on the more generous estimate where the PS6 gpu is only 5x more powerful than the PS5 gpu, and it also would only work if the CPU is not limiting the game to 30fps as this handheld's CPU will probably not come close to the CPU power of the PS6.


here's the thing. I would be all for such a game parity clause. I am on record saying that I like it when a lower end system keeps developers grounded and forces them to optimise better... but it just would be extremely unrealistic to expect this.
 
Good luck making a portable console for about 500 bucks with as much power as a Series S, without DLSS, and with a least 2 hours of battery life.
And then, good luck selling this sub-PS5, with no exclusive games, alongside the PS6.

If this really releases as a portable PS5, I predict a disaster worse than the Vita.
 
Who needs a 3-4 tflops PS5 handheld when ive got the 10 tflops handheld in the palm of my hands. Yes, there is some lag when you are away from your home, but at home the lag is minimal and the image quality is fantastic.

 
Last edited:
Sony's challenge isn't the specs.

Their games are designed to run on powerful consoles. Nintendo's are designed to run on a handheld.

Their challenge is to redesign their game philosophy.
 
But Nintendo focuses on one device. Sony will need to focus on two, and the PS5's input situation is already awful.
Let's hope they do a better job this time. We all know how they treated the Vita and left it to die.

Sony's pretty innovated with gaming platforms outside of home consoles(PSVR/PSVR2, PSP/Vita, Portal) but they haven't been great at supporting some of these devices with great games to play.
 
But Nintendo focuses on one device. Sony will need to focus on two, and the PS5's input situation is already awful.

here's how Sony HAS TO do it for this handheld to work, both for them, and in terms of third party support.

This Handheld needs to be their PS5 S. I basically said something similar about Microsoft's rumoured handheld project, but they already have the Series S.
Sony needs to force full parity between this handheld and the PS5.

this means if a game launches after the handheld is out, it is required to have a version running on PS5 Portable (let's call it that, PS5P).
any game released before can be patched but doesn't have to. but I think they should also get devs ready as early as possible so that there are games out already that have compatible versions when it launches.

forced PS5 parity would mean a 100% guaranteed software support for years to come.
3rd party developers will absolutely want to support the PS5 for several years even after the PS6 is out. and for Sony, this parity will mean that they don't have to support a new handheld with portable games, but instead can support both their PS5 users with new software, and their handhel users. backwards compatibility will on top of that mean that every PS6 user will also be a potential customer for these games.

so basically,
force PS5 parity like the Series S forces Series X parity,
this guarantees third party support for the foreseeable future,
it means Sony can make games for it while not limiting their games to only work on the handheld, but instead be also available for PS5 and PS6 owners,
it means customers don't have to fear that support for the handheld will just suddenly stop again like with the Vita and their VR headsets,
and it can even help extending the life of the PS5 as if the handheld is a success, developers will be encouraged to also make more new PS5 games.
 
Why not just keep evolving the PS Portal tech, make it excellent in the Portal 2 and release it at a very competitive price?

As the Portal is just a streaming machine it would be a heck of a lot and more straightforward to just do a new version.
Shame on you Go_Ly_Dow Go_Ly_Dow

Shame!! On you!!



..Streaming stinks :(
 
Good luck making a portable console for about 500 bucks with as much power as a Series S, without DLSS, and with a least 2 hours of battery life.
And then, good luck selling this sub-PS5, with no exclusive games, alongside the PS6.

If this really releases as a portable PS5, I predict a disaster worse than the Vita.
Good thing it's a portable PS6 instead.
 
That kind of sounds like a nightmare to me. I'd rather have a portable that can play PS5 and older and can be connected to my tv. I don't want my new games having to be designed for three different SKUs.
Same.

I prefer they simply just have it for PS4 / PS5 digital games.

Allow PS6 to be its own thing with its own skus pushing that system to the max.
 
Top Bottom