Has a window opened for a new Playstation handheld?

[KBG29]

BasilZero said:

KBG29 said:

A PlayStation Handheld and the PS4 don't have to be seperate things. At 7nm in 2019 - 2020 Sony can easily make a PS4 the same size or smaller than the Switch. This would give the device access to all PS4 titles from day one.  

Hell even right now a PS4 Tablet is possible. Get rid of the Blu-ray Drive, swap the HDD for 512GB of on board strage, axe the HDMI/USB/AUX/Ethernet/Optical ports, and put in a Micro SD and USB C slot, and you have a very compact device. Only problem currently is the 14nm PS4 APU needs active cooling, at 7nm that will no long be required. Even at that though, it would still be a very small device. Make it like the Surface book, and you have an idea the size. Keep the HDMI and people could use it like the Switch, if that is what people want. 

I will agree that Sony needs to focus on the PS4, but that does not mean that they shouldn't look at other form factors. For PS4 and the PlayStation ecosystem to expand, and stay competitive it needs to compete as broadly as possible. Having a PS4 Tablet, a PS4 Handheld, and a PS4 Phone would only make the PlayStation brand stronger. With everything running the same hardware and OS, it would not see the neglect we saw with PSP and PS Vita, because it would all be part of the same platform. All of these devices would be joining in on a Platform that already has a 50 Million strong userbase. They would just drive that number up, and create even greater user engament.

 

I doubt they'll even do that.

 

The best course of action with Sony's assets would be to make the PS4 games available on PSNow and then release PS5 by 2020 or so.

 

Making a portable PS4 by that time would only leave the platform DoA.

I am not 100% sure they will do it, but it would be the biggest thing they could do to grow as a company. 

PS Now will definitly expand. They have to bring it over to X86 and dump the Cell servers to keep it profitable. Ultimatly they should have all PS1 and PS2 games available in 1080p/60fps with Trophies added, and have the entire PS3 library emulated as well. With the Switch to X86 all PS4 games should be available starting from launch. 

I still don't think PS5 should be released until 2023 or 2024 when they can put an SSD in every unit. PS5 needs to have 4K/30fps + greatly advanced graphics. A PS5 in 2020 would only be about 12TFLOPS and only deliver PS4/XBO games at native 4k/30fps with very little in the way of next gen graphics. I think a 10 - 12 TFLOP PS4 Ultra with 16GB of RAM would be perfect in 2019. I want PS5 to have 25TFLOPS, 64GB Stacked RAM, and a 4TB SSD on SATA Express for $499.99 in 2023 -2024. That would be a true next gen system.

I don't think a PS4 Portable in 2019 or 2020 would be DOA. PS4 is going to be supported for many years to come regaurdless of what Sony does with PS5. A PS4 Portable in 2020 would stil have 5 years of solid support from 1st and 3rd party. I think in the world of mobile you can not expect a device to have the cutting edge of software for longer than that. 

Plus a PS4 Handheld would be much more successful if Sony had a PS4 Phone option with the same form factor. A PS4 phone would sell 30M in Japan alone, and it greatly increase the interest in mobile gaming in the US and EU. It honestly could end up more poular then the PS4 itself.