PS5 Portable is real says second source but there’s doubt around one aspect-Michael Beckwith-Entertainment – Metro

The PlayStation Portal already cloud streams games, so a new handheld would have to offer something different, right? (Sony)

While Sony remains mum about its rumoured handheld plans, another source claims to have known of a new portable device for months now.

Last week, it was reported that Sony is in the early stages of developing a new PlayStation handheld; one that can directly play PlayStation 5 games.

There had been some vague rumblings of Sony keeping a close eye on the handheld gaming market, following the launch of the PlayStation Portal, but this report was the first to be more specific about Sony’s purported plans.

While Sony itself has not confirmed anything, there are now two very reliable sources who are convinced that a new PlayStation Portable is in development.

Speaking on the latest episode of the Digital Foundry Direct podcast, senior staff writer John Linneman revealed that he had already heard about this new handheld device some months before the initial Bloomberg report.

‘So, we’re not in the business of leaking things, but it’s interesting that this finally sort of started to make its rounds because it just sort of confirmed what we had seen and heard off the record about this existing, which is cool,’ said Linneman at the 3:20 mark in the video below.

He unfortunately doesn’t seem to know much else about the device’s capabilities and, based on the report, he suspects the console is even further from release than he originally expected.

‘There’s still a lot of questions for this, but it does feel like this future of offering a handheld and a home console option is very likely at this point,’ concluded Linneman, suggesting that whatever this device is it’s completely separate from the eventual PlayStation 6.

While no explicit details about the handheld were shared, Digital Foundry’s technology editor Richard Leadbetter expressed doubt that any such device will be capable of running PlayStation 5 games natively.

‘There’s no way a device that chews through 200 watts right now is going to suddenly do the same results at 20 watts a couple of years down the road; it’s just not happening,’ said Leadbetter.

The idea of PlayStation 5 games running on a smaller handheld natively does seem hard to believe, even if you consider technology will improve in the coming years.

Perhaps it’ll be a reverse PlayStation 5 Pro situation, where instead of upscaling games so they have improved visuals, the games will need to be downscaled, sacrificing graphical detail to ensure they run smoothly.

It doesn’t seem likely, though, that it would involve streaming as the primary means of playing games, as the PlayStation Portal already exists and nothing further is needed in terms of hardware.

All this discussion may be rendered moot if Sony decides not to go through with its handheld plans – which could well happen – but the company has plenty of reasons to pursue the idea.

Not only has the PlayStation Portal apparently proved quite popular, but many other companies have been jumping on the handheld bandwagon, ever since the launch of the Nintendo Switch nearly eight years ago now.

Valve’s own Steam Deck has been an undeniable success (with the company planning to make another one), and even Tencent has made a streaming alternative in the Logitech G Cloud.

Most importantly, though, Microsoft has confirmed it’s working on an Xbox handheld. It’s unlikely Sony will want to be the only one without a dedicated portable gaming device and it may have been incentivised to keep working on one following Microsoft’s admission.

Think Sony will wait until Microsoft unveils its handheld first? (Microsoft)

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