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Otter on 26 November 2024
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BraLoD said:

A handheld to play PS5 games is pointless now.
It would not have it's own games and you won't be putting your discs there.
So it's a PS Portal that can download games to play last gen games (by then) and that you can't play your disc games into.
If it can play PS6 new released games, meaning from now on console games are full PC games with low quality modes that can be upscalled with PSSR2, then maybe.
Even so, people woule rather enjoy God of War 6 on a big screen rather than that.
The Vita failed for a lot of reasons, and one of them is that people don't want compromised versions of the high profile games, they want either a new thing or a proper high profile game.

The idea of handhelds having their own games is now very dated.

For one, PS Vita conditions of failure are different because it needed dedicated software support to exist. Dedicated software requires a high userbase for that software to make a profit on. A derivative portable PS5 SKU wouldn't be deemed a failure if it sold Vita hardware numbers (15m) as developers do not need to build games from the ground up to support it.

Additionally you couldn't possibly compare Vita's software situation to that of a portable PS5. Vita didn't just have "compromised versions" of high profile games, it had entirely different games of way less quality and appeal. Even then it lacked the vast majority of IPs that made playstation a success: no GTA, Monster Hunter, Final Fantasy, Grand Turismo,  God of War etc. If it literally ran all the big games released in 2013 like GTA5, GT 6, ACIV Blackflag etc aand offered the same expoerience at a lower resolution, then we'd be able use it to correlate with the appeal of a potential handheld PS5.

As far as compromised experiences, the Xbox Series S is 40% of Xbox Series sales, clearly there is an audience for "compromised experience" if the trade off is worth it. Portable gaming does has an audience, especially in developing markets. Sony just wants to have a presence there and give gamers new options, I doubt they'd be expecting it to sell 50m units or anything. 

Also I don't think anyone expects the PS5 is going to be abandoned at the arrival of the new generation. Games development is getting longer, more expensive and very few developers are actually able demonstrate clear generational leaps, to the point that Sony is happy to use a PS4 game (TLOU2) to promote its new PS5 Pro console 4 years into the generation. If this gen saw a 2-3 year period of cross gen across almost all big titles, next gen will be 4 years minimum. Everything points to the going on to be the longest generation we've seen and potentially the end of clear cut generations. Scalability is an increasingly bigger part of engines and dev focus, also because the PC market is an increasing important for AAA development and most people do not have high-end PCs.


Last edited by Otter - on 26 November 2024