Remember the shock of Sony entering the handheld market with the PSP? Many experts predicted that the sleek console would spell the end of Nintendo's dominance in the portable sector, and while the PSP was undoubtably a commercial success, it wasn't enough to unseat Nintendo's DS, which sold a whopping 154.02 million units worldwide (compared to the estimated 82 million units of the PSP).
Sony's successor, the PS Vita, was far less popular, with estimated sales of between 10 and 15 million – a fact which saw the Japanese tech giant pull out of the handheld arena to instead focus its energies on its home console line – which, based on the robust performance of the PS4, was a wise move.
Since then, Nintendo has consolidated its domestic and handheld businesses into one platform, the Switch, which is closing in on 100 million units sold since 2017. Given the state of the market now, it's highly unlikely that Sony would consider venturing into handhelds again (and is the Switch even a 'proper' handheld console?), but designers Andrea Gallarini and Nicola Pezzotti have cooked up some concept renders which show just what a 'next gen' PlayStation Portable could look like.
Of course, the unit borrows many ideas from the Switch – including a wireless charging dock which sees the console slide in horizontally rather than vertically – and the overall design is very close to that of Nintendo's machine. While this dream system doesn't seem to physically 'dock' with the TV, it does feature connectivity which allows players to fling gameplay to their television wirelessly, allowing one person to play on the console while the other picks up a DualShock controller and uses the main TV screen.
While these renders certainly look the part and could easily be mistaken for official Sony shots, it's unlikely that the '2022 PlayStation Portable' will become a reality any time soon.
[source yankodesign.com]
Comments 69
Sony handhelds were criminally underrated. But Sony has sadly lost a lot of their forward thinking in the PS4/PS5 era.
In a world where Sony forgot about Japan, this will never come to reality.
what's up with those analog sticks? The Switch already proved you can implement decent sticks on a handheld, no need to go back to 3DS/ PSP style flat thumbpads..
Bloody hell another switch pro story, oohhh wait sorry I misread.
@CharlieGirl Yeah. Fans of japanese games who still buy Sony products are traitors at this point. Sony is doing everything they can to destroy the japanese industry with their western studios.
I would whole heartedly support a Playstation hybrid console. (and an xbox hybrid for that matter).
Hybrid consoles from all platforms is the future I’d want to see. Obviously that flies in the face of what many people want from consoles/PCs nowadays (cutting edge visuals) so it’ll never happen but it honestly feels like a step back playing on a console regardless of how much powerful they are than Switch because of that limit on freedom to play wherever you want. Xcloud is a decent half step towards the best of both worlds but reliance on a strong internet connection means it isn’t perfect.
At the very least I’d be happy with a dedicated GamePad style device for Xbox/PS5 just for streaming games directly from the machine when at home. I did that a lot with Vita on PS4 and it was great (when the touch screen/pad buttons were mapped sensibly anyway).
If Sony or Microsoft were to release a handheld hybrid (like the Switch) it would be a day one purchase for me. I have always prefered handheld gaming to playing on the TV. I also like the portability of it and that I can play the games on the go or on holidays.. The last system that I bought from either of those companies was the Xbox360.. bought a lot of games but never really got around to playing many of them. I did have the PSP and also the PS Vita and played those games a lot more (but sadly the good games for the Vita seemed to dry up a lot quicker).
Or Sony could just push out a remote play app on the switch.
@CharlieGirl God my thoughts exactly. I feel like Sony's such a different beast these days it makes me sad.
These concepts are recurrent, but I mostly tend to have a Clint Barton reaction to them. And why not just dock the console while at it, simply taking... oh, RIGHT, an average PlayStation user would only possess ONE DualShock out the box.😏
I also don't buy the notion that PS4 owes its robust performance to Sony's home console focus, especially since my Vita is precisely what sold a PS4 to me. As for "whether Switch is even truly a handheld", Switch is a hybrid console with a legit handheld mode among others. What part of it is still rocket science in 2022?
@solidox FWIW they cautiously cast the idea into one of their recent polls from what I recall. As long as the app supports different resolutions (like 480p or some 524p with frames - 720p streaming is still beyond our local 4G), I'd definitely welcome such a thing. Although even that definitely wouldn't get my two Vitas shelved.
I mean I'd support Sony handhelds again but [after the Vita] I know that Sony themselves wouldn't...
Think MS would do a better job actually.
What a boring and uninspired design 🙄
Would love to see something manifest from those Sony patents from before the PS5 was announced that showed a handheld screen with detachable controllers a-lá the Switch. They're apparently working on that screen controller you can stream from like the XCloud, which is neat, but not the same. At least, not until you have stable and readily accessible 5G internet access globally in even the remotest parts of Africa. I think we'll see that in the next 10-15 years, where if you get lost somewhere but have a phone on you, it will be impossible to not have service to call for help. But, we're not quite there yet.
@nhSnork "As for "whether Switch is even truly a handheld", Switch is a hybrid console with a legit handheld mode among others. What part of it is still rocket science in 2022?"
You've missed the point of what was being said here. My point was: is it fair to say that Sony isn't in the handheld arena when Nintendo arguably has a foot in both markets when it comes to the Switch? Switch isn't just a handheld, and is arguably in competition with Sony / PS4 / PS5 because it can be used as a home console, too.
@Damo why you trying so hard lately with fan posts transformed in articles, and then going in comments to tell people what they didn’t understand.
@Bl4ckb100d "The Switch already proved you can implement decent sticks on a handheld"
Hahahaha sorry, what? Did you really just type that seriously?
Looks bigger than the Vita. For me that’d be a disappointment, but I’m probably in the minority with pocketable handhelds these days
@larryisaman I feel the same. Really thinking about getting a steam deck whenever it finally releases
@LordPieFace they've also lost nearly all of their weird originality from the PS1, PS2, and even PS3 eras. Playstation games like Vib Ribbon, Um Jammer Lammy, Loco Roco, Patapon, Everyday Shooter, and Fat Princess are things of the past. now, it's all gritty AAA bloat, and that makes me sad.
Sterile and boring looking device. I think they've envisioned a cross between a PS Vita and Wii U. A pocket sized Switch wouldn't surprise me, 'Switch Micro', as the current model is hardly 3DS levels of portable. I would prefer a pocket Dreamcast.
And this is why I'm abandoning Sony and Microsoft in favour of the steamdeck. Or other more powerful pc handhelds that may come in the future.
Sony could try again, But I just don't see why they need to, I mean there doing just fine with the playstation.
What I want is PSAS to get another shot at life, the first had a lot of issues, but they just need to take another crack at it!
@Bl4ckb100d I can't aim for the life of me on the switch, There joysticks suck!
Would be amazing and a day one purchase for me, to play actual next gen games on the go would be perfect and let's face it the switch successor isn't going to be powerful enough to play next gen games, but at least it should be able to play ps4 games with bad optimization and graphics lol
Ah I loved the PSP, it had such a great library! Sadly the Vita, whilst technically super impressive, never quite got there.
I do love what Sony are doing at the moment but sometimes I think some of the PS3, PSP era creativity has waned in some areas.
With component shortages I can’t see this happening anytime soon. And as a former psp and vita owner, Sony will need to do a LOT to make me want to invest in their handhelds ever again.
I think Sony decided to cut their losses after the Vita, it's an expensive and time consuming business competing with Microsoft, so I doubt we will see another handheld from them.
That mock up looks awful, just like an i Phone someone has stuck some cheap buttons on.
In my alternate universe Sega is still relevant today... 🙄
@Damo I see. But on this subject, the elephant in the room is that Nintendo, indeed, still technically has a foot on the home console turf (which Switch's single screen multiplayer capability alone could sufficiently testify to) while Sony has neither on the portable one, at least in Gen 9. PS5 Remote Play won't count as long as its supported portable outlets need a separate gamepad connected/strapped/duct-taped to them.
@Dethmunk well even Nintendo do that, look at mario kart, smash bros and BOTW 2 and the countless ports.
Every one does it to save money by using re used assets, ubisoft are the worst for it
@Hunter-D Microsoft just needs to make an XBOX branded Surface with built in controls. Make it run Windows 11, and add support for Steam Deck like docking.
@RubyDevilNine Anime boob is bad though, lol
I mean why would you look at the design of PSP and PS Vita, nah just ignore it and make it look like the Switch.
All these concepts never make any sense, not in a usability part but also absolutely forgetting that the words "holding comfortably" exist.
This thing would cause me the same issue the Switch does, cramp something the PS Vita and N3DSXL never did, with the difference that I can kinda solve it with using Hori SPlit Pad Pro... maybe the person that made this desing, should rip that off too.
I sound like ranting but I am not, it's silly to consider any of these concepts new worthy, they are not.
@RubyDevilNine maybe better the Vita died before it had to deal with this crap from Sony.
@HollowSpectre I want the Steam Deck primarily for visual novels that aren't on Switch and for the 18+ hentai versions of the ones that are, lol
@UltimateOtaku91 Exactly why I'm not interested in Nintendo games. I have a Switch for AAA ports and visual novels.
@Bl4ckb100d In what world does the Switch have decent thumbsticks?
I've had the same PSVita console for 10 years. It has taken a beating and full of scratches and nicks. I play on it every lunchtime at work still. The thumbsticks have not once skipped a beat.
I've had a Switch for 3 years. It barely leaves the house. I have gone through 5 Joycons and they have all developed drift to the point of becoming unusable, the internal shoulder buttons do not work and the LEDs have gone.
What happened to that famous Nintendium indestructability?
my ps5 goes unused so much. Just wish it had connectivity to a portable device so i can play it handheld
@Exciter89 Technically there is remote play for smartphones... but I don't like that idea, PS4 had remote play via PS Vita and that device was better for that compared to a phone.
I still want a PS5, mostly because our PS4 is kinda counting his minutes and I don't to replace it with another PS4, rather with a PS5 to play games.
But I would have PS5 if I could fine one at a fair price, so I'll wait.
(if our PS4 worked fine I would have no reason to get a PS5, aside from Ratchet and Clank on it, no other game does interest me yet)
@CactusMan Sony should never make another handheld, NEVER.
I like the Vita a lot, but how Sony treated that system is sad because the let it bleed just because it didn't print money on the spot without any time put in it, just like their main console.
I have more respect to Nintendo trying to support and save the Wii U while that was a 100% sinking ship, they at least tried to save that ship and failed... BUT THEY TRIED.
Sony was like "nah, just die" and they killed the poor Vita outside Japan... because in Japan that system did get proper support and a ton of games.
@JustMonika Each to their own! I'm after it for emulation purposes 😁 and some of the first party stuff from Sony as well
The PSP is a great console, with an excellent library of games. I don't have a Vita, but do own a PSTV - another excellent idea which Sony didn't support properly.
I think one of the main issues with both the PSP and Vita is the choice of memory. Vita memory cards are stupidly expensive.
sony already tried with sony psp,sony ps vita and sony go
It's interesting certainly but we know about the history of Sony and their handhelds, don't we? Sony's handheld consoles strangely never interested me
Can't say I had any real love for either of Sony's handheld offerings. I got a lot more use out of the PSP I owned, thanks to both some great ports (The War of the Lions, Let Us Cling Together, Persona 3 Portable) and fun exclusives (Dissidia mainly, problems and all).
The Vita was far worse, and the most use I got out of it was the PSTV for Persona 4 Golden, and as an emulation machine for PSP titles on the TV.
Sony made some decent hardware with both devices, mind you. But they never made it tempting enough for great exclusive content, and they themselves would give up on the platforms not long after launch. Another handheld would just be more of the same, so why bother?
Those thumbsticks look awful though haha
@CharlieGirl
Honestly it feels like since the Walkman was released Sony has been pretty much mailing it in when it comes to innovation. You do make a good point regarding the types of creative risks they no longer seem to take. They’re pretty much the Hollywood of video games now, heavy on the cutscenes and games that need to sell millions just to recoup the development costs. Gotta wonder how sustainable this is, how many more iterations of God of War, The Last of Us, Uncharted etc…can they produce before the series become stale? Those will be pretty big shoes to fill
@Rainz It's not sustainable. In the PS2 era, the Playstation brand had a good handle on publishing both the cinematic (God of War, Metal Gear Solid 3) and the weird (Cookie and Cream, Katamari Damacy). Without that variety, Sony just becomes another one of those cookie-cutter AAA studios.
@CharlieGirl
I’m willing to bet they circle back to their roots eventually and return to supporting more Japanese devs and invest in more creative risks. Easy way for them to “rebrand” themselves and what was old will be new again.
Sony needs to stick with their under powered pc's in plastic cases, that seems to be where their cult following is. The same games just regurgitated for portable use has never worked overly well for them. With Nintendo as the dominant player in the handheld area from the start and with things like Steam Deck, what would be the point in another PS portable?
Removed - trolling/baiting; user is banned
It's obvious Sony is afraid of mobile phones which is the real reason why they high tail out of the portable handheld market. It doesn't benefit them much and to stay in the handheld market, they can't use disc media which are formats they themselves make money from. The PSP UMD were their bread and butter but it just never were a smooth sailing on the handheld aspect which damage those disc over time or the laser stopped reading disc eventually, the thing I learn from a portable CD music player was that they were never as reliance as an mp3 player as your music disc will get corrupted or buffer issue over time due to the laser losing powers or the disc got scratch due to its portable nature whereas mp3 player had no such issue since everything are digital and comfortable to take with you.
Sony then try digital download with PSP Go which they failed even more since not all games from UMD got the digital treatment and they eventually switch to game cards for PS Vita, a media they don't own which is why they made their own memory cards to compensate those loss for trying to invest in a format they had to do bargain with. Due to a rise in mobile gaming and the fact that handheld was never a strong market for Sony to begin with, they just high tail out and started releasing games for PC and mobile instead. Would be nice if they release some titles for Switch since they aren't in the handheld space anymore, a remastered of the Legend of Dragoon and Twisted Metal exclusively for Switch would be fantastic.
@The_BAAD_Man Yeap I don't understand why they couldn't just reused the DuoStick again since previous customers could easily just transfer their previous library to the PS Vita. Sony also would not put the entire PSP library on their digital shop so those who own a PSP Go couldn't easily had access to those games. Games like Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep and Crisis Core only had physical version and if you own a PSP Go you will never get to legitimately play those on that handheld or the PS Vita.
@LordPieFace
It was the PS3 experience that changed Sony fundamentally. The risk taking SCE that existed before the PS3 will never come back.
It’s the only Sony console that was a financial failure (well maybe Vita too but I’m not sure what the investment was like with it). Yes it outsold the Xbox 360 slightly at the end, but Sony lost money overall in the project due to insanely high cost of developing CELL. The goal was that the PS3 would be only one segment of a future based on the Cell broadband engine. They hoped that TVs, smart devices (which were in their infancy in 2003-2005 when these things were planned) and even servers would switch to Cell.
So they blew a crazy amount of money developing Cell. And in the end, the PS3 and internal IBM research workstations were the only products that ever used Cell.
As much of a turnaround Sony made with the PS3, it was never going to be enough. That’s why for the first time they had a “post mortem” for a console that had only released a year earlier. Basically everyone, especially Kaz Hirai who took over Kutaragi’s old job to fix his screw up, knew the PS3 was dead financially just a few months after launch. They determined many things. One of which was that unique architectures were a dead end; developers wanted a platform that was easy and affordable to develop for. They wanted to be able to get complicated code running in a month or less. On PS3 this was usually a three month procedure, and that’s not even including the extra time needed for a programmer to learn how the SPEs worked.
Kutaragi was many things. Highly innovative and a big risk taker. PS1, PS2, and PS3 were all innovative consoles with unique hardware architectures. It worked for the PS1 and PS2. It didn’t for the PS3.
As part of the Post Mortem analysis, they determined that they couldn’t take such risks anymore. Sony no longer controlled the electronics market like they did in the 80s and 90s. The rest of the company couldn’t function as a back up bank if SCE blew up. They were hemorrhaging money. In all honesty, it was really up to SCE to get the company back to financial solvency.
That’s why the PS4 was such a safe console. It lacked that innovation and that unique risk previous PlayStations had as their calling cards. But it was necessary. And in the end, I think it worked out for the best. The handhelds were seen as financial sink holes, since they couldn’t compete with Nintendo. In the end, SCE decided it was best to throw everything behind their most traditional console ever, the PS4. And luckily for people like me, PlayStation fans, it worked.
@Specter_of-the_OLED
Every mistake Sony made with the Vita (besides it’s poor marketing, that’s a different story) centered around the rampant piracy that plagued the PSP. The PSP is the third most pirated console of all time; only the Dreamcast and PS1 had greater numbers of people playing bootleg and .ISOs on hardware during its active lifecycle.
Every action Sony took with the hardware was a reaction and an attempt to keep piracy to a minimum. The expensive proprietary storage was one thing they felt would discourage piracy.
Which was just stupid on its face. It only made the home brew and hacker community unite to find ways to defeat Sony’s algorithms so that the system could be modded to accept SD cards.
@glaemay lol I'll keep that in mind as I continue to buy Sony products
I mean if they actually did a better job supportingbit, and don't use a heavily overpriced memory card, they could likely have a well recieved well selling portable console. I thought overall they were well made and had quite a few cool games. But a lack of wide appeal killer games, and poor marketing seriously hurt them.
@dil_power Same here- really excited and hopeful that it delivers. So many games I’ve been clamouring for to get Switch ports (Mass Effect trilogy for example) that would be there on day one on Steamdeck- and for far cheaper to boot. Only thing is that while I’ve no doubt it’ll be great for already released games I just wonder how futureproof it’ll be…hopefully it’s popular enough that devs regularly optimise new games for it, but either way even as just a machine for older gen games it’ll be awesome to have.
In sony own words they already gave up on VITA support that more or less killed anyting VITA 20xx coming for that matter and the fact they didn't learn and made Sony only MEMORY that tells they didn't really consider portable gaming.
Sony handhelds were great for emulation but they couldn't compete with the stellar game libraries of the DS and 3DS.
The PSP had a lot of great games, but the DS had Super Mario 64, New Super Mario Bros, Dragon Quest IX, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon, Metroid Prime Pinball, Golden Sun III, Contra 4, etc.
The PS Vita had some great games but got blown away by the 3DS and its library of gems such as Super Mario 3D Land, New Super Mario Bros 2, A Link Between Worlds, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Star Fox 64, The Alliance Alive, Dragon Quest VII, Dragon Quest VIII, Fire Emblem Awakening, and so on...
What horrible analog sticks. Also, what happened with Vita is exactly what would happen if Nintendo listened to those clamoring for a more powerful system, even if it costs more (a switch pro, for instance). They couldn't resist making proprietary storage, no backwards compatibility, so that hurt the Vita,, especially, but Nintendo would make some bad decisions, too. It's inevitable once these companies get too conceited. They think they know better than all the customers what's best for them.
It just looks like a resin of millions of switch pro mocks.
@twztid13 That’s why I’m honestly a bit worried about the next Nintendo console. All three major platform holders have done the same thing in the past: hit on major success, lose sight of what made that platform such a success and believe they can do no wrong, flop with their next system and spend the generation course correcting or straight up start again (Switch).
They’ve got a really good thing going with Switch on the whole but that old Nintendo hubris always has a way of finding its way back. Really hope that’s not going to be the case with the next system
@larryisaman omg I wanna play mass effect legendary on Steam Deck so bad. I would have otherwise been happy with a switch port but I doubt that’ll ever happen. I don’t know how future proof it’ll be either but I’m hopeful it’ll be successful enough to receive more powerful future iterations
@HollowSpectre and some hot anime dabonkers, lol
I bought a used PSP 1000 in 2009 and it still works. Love that thing. Really wish Sony would come back to handheld market. Vita was so underrated.
@TheRedComet You ay that, but when Sony turned the PS3 around with Uncharted, Last of Us and all that other stuff, they also really leaned into smaller indie games. they really pushed for Journey, Sound Shapes, the Unfinished Swan, and just a whole bunch of other strange weirdo games. The trend continued on Vita as welll, and personally that's what made me actually take them seriously as having something special to me that Nintendo didn't. Of course I am very much in a minority here, but it was great for the company and less so for some of its fans. Japan Studio dying was one of its more high profile casualties.
@WhiteUmbrella I absolutely did, name a handheld with better analog sticks I dare you
@RadioHedgeFund it so happens I had the opposite experience, I replaced both analog sticks on my Vita (proof: https://www.reddit.com/r/vita/comments/roz735/another_successful_operation_so_far_ive_changed/) but never had any malfunction on my 3 yo switch. Where are you using yours btw? in a war zone?
@LordPieFace
They did.
Sony released some unorthodox games for the PS4 as well. It just dwindled as time went on.
But I get Sony’s moves and I understand them. They try to play it safe now. On both hardware and sadly software as well. On hardware I don’t blame them at all. I’m sure someone big at Sony has a picture of the PS3 and all the money they lost on it with the words “never again” on it.
And I loved the PS3. It was a great console after its first two years. But they lost money on it. It never turned a profit.
They couldn’t have survived had the PS4 been another funky architecture with weird development practices. They had to do what they did with the hardware. Kutaragi was gone. And although I respect the guy it was a good thing he left. He nearly killed Sony with his ambitions.
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