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Soundwave on 04 September 2025
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Otter said:
Soundwave said:

The PS6 Portable essentially cuts the next-generation off at the knees before it even starts, you're locked into sub-PS5 performance for the next generation already.

The PS5 is going to as a result be getting new game for probably another like 10 years.

Nintendo will retaliate with a Switch 2 Pro that matches whatever Sony releases, they're not going to let Sony just walk onto their turf and take a chunk of marketshare away from the only console they have. So what I think is actually going to happen is the "normal PS6" is actually in some ways going to become like a secondary platform.

It will just be there to run the PS6 Portable games (which are sub PS5 in spec) at higher settings and that's essentially it, but the PS6 Portable is actually going to be the machine that all devs have to make sure a game runs on (which they can port to Switch 2/Switch 2 Pro). 

Console generations as they existed in the past as such are essentially over with as a result. Developers cannot have another doubling of budgets happening anyway ... it's not workable for the industry, I think even Sony knows this now. There's no where to realistically go significantly past a PS5/PS5 Pro. They've already hit a dead end. 

Well this is essentially the basis of a Portable PS6... At this point its clear developers do not really need more power to make the game experiences they're interested in making. They need more time with the tools, more efficient strategies, engines and quicker development cycles. PS6 in both portable and home console mode can offer this and support scalability across all "next-gen" features. Something that will still distinguish the portable from PS5, just as the ability to AI upscale, support RT etc distinguishes Switch 2 from PS4/4 Pro. 

Having said this I think much of this still needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. Remember all the Switch Pro rumours? I fully suspect they were accurate for the time but it's also a reality that the platform holders are always exploring and free change route at any point. This may be a PS5 Portable with some unique PS6 features. PS6 may not come out for a while yet... It'll be interesting to see how the value proposition of PS5 Pro changes once FSR4 lands on it next year. 

For now the PS5 and Switch 2 remain in different pools. You're not going to see day and date for most 3rd party titles and the majority of Playstation audience are not keen to sacrifice to a Switch 2 level of performance and graphical quality in most titles. A Switch 2 Pro won't fix this because it won't be a stand alone platform, so developers won't put in the effort. It'll be Switch 2 versions of games running at higher resolutions/FPS and come with an OLED screen. Nintendo themselves are also not going to go above the $499 price tag.

I think if anything the whole "Nintendo will do XYZ cuz that's what happened X years ago" is irrelevant. Nintendo will do whatever suits them in the moment and Nintendo is run today by a completely different, much younger president who grew up in the 1990s. I think they are well aware last time Sony marched into console territory in 1995/96, Nintendo just bent over and let them take the market over essentially by giving them all their 3rd party support. 

The Playstation didn't arise from nowhere or organically ... they basically stole the market Nintendo had built with the Famicom (NES) and Super Famicom (SNES) and used the same exact 3rd parties that Nintendo had popularized on their hardware platforms (Squaresoft, Capcom, Konami, etc.). 

I don't think they will allow that mistake to repeat. So if this "PS5/6 Portable" is a credible competitor, they are going to go head on and match it so that developers will essentially be forced into making anything that is for PS5/6 Portable is also made for the Switch 2 ecosystem, day 1 too. It's not terribly difficult to take the existing Switch 2 which already runs PS5 tier games reasonably well and ramp that up to match whatever Sony is making. Nvidia is easily capable of matching/exceeding anything AMD does. For another thing Nintendo doesn't even have the luxury of not doing anything, hybrid market is the only market they have left, they can't rely on like the Game Boy as they did once the N64/GameCube saw massive declines. They have no choice but to defend their market space. 

And Nintendo was always going to make a $500+ model, the base Switch 2 is $499.99 w/Mario Kart (that's the one most people buy) ... you thought things like the inevitable OLED revision wasn't going to cost more than that? HAH. We were always going to $550-$600+ for one of the Switch 2 models. 

So that's what I think will happen the PS5/6 Portable + Switch 2 Pro basically get all the games in that scenario, the giant brick "traditional" PS6 that can't be moved around the house I think will simply just run those games with better effects/resolution, but in a way its going to more of a companion hardware than the other way around. Games will be made essentially for these sub-PS5 (in raw performance) mobile devices from Sony and Nintendo (PS5/6 Portable + Switch 2 Pro + Switch 2 regular) and then they will just be scaled up on the regular Playstation 6. I think a PS6 Pro is not happening, the PS5 Pro is not performing well, Sony is going the other way in performance. And then Microsoft basically just goes off and focuses on becoming the no.1 software publisher and makes basically gaming PCs in a box that are sold at a premium price ($800++) that let you install the XBox installer from them or use Steam. 

Last edited by Soundwave - on 04 September 2025