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Handhelds are clearly going to continue coming back in a big way, as now even Sony is reportedly developing a proper, non-cloud based portable console.
Where Nintendo goes, everyone else follows. It’s a tale as old as time, really, even right back to Nintendo and Sony’s partnership to make a console that never materialised (or, well, never materialised as a partnership anyway). Sony obviously later made a PSP after Nintendo found years of success in the handheld market, and while it did well, the PS Vita didn’t, leaving Sony to exit the portable console game until the PS Portal arrived last year. That one only works via the cloud though, meaning you need a good internet connection to play it. Except as now reported by Bloomberg, Sony is apparently working on a new handheld that you can take anywhere, and you’ll even be able to play your PS5 games on it.
According to the report, Sony is looking to expand its reach and obviously face off against Nintendo and its hold over the portable console market, based on comments made by people familiar with the project. The idea is also to counter a potential Xbox handheld that’s in the works at Microsoft (which Phil Spencer recently confirmed). However, don’t expect to be playing it anytime soon, as the report notes it is likely years away from launch, and it’s still possible that Sony makes the decision to not even release it.
Bloomberg also said that the people it spoke with claimed the PS Portal was originally intended to work like Valve’s Steam Deck, a standalone unit that can play games without needing to be connected to the internet, but there wasn’t any reasoning offered as to why it ultimately went the route of being cloud based.
There’s been rumours about a dedicated handheld device from Sony for a little while now, which really isn’t surprising considering how popular the Switch has been. But if it’s designed to play PS5 games, I can only assume that like the Steam Deck it will be a digital-only console. Sony is clearly going the digital-only route, as the base PS5 Pro doesn’t come with a disc reader, so you might want to mentally prepare for that shift.