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[X-Wing]

Fun, we hadn’t had a thread about this this week yet.

 

[Ar¢tos]

Seems like they are sitting on missed opportunity. I am aware that the Vita wasn't successful but another Playstation handheld seems like a safer bet than investing heavily in VR. They have the studios to make some killer games.

I must be living in an alternate universe... They made the headset and instantly forgot about it in my universe...

 

[Aguero9320]

I thought they had a handheld coming out? It looks like shit but it’s still coming?

I bought a Steam Deck at launch and it sat unused until very recently, when I realized I was wrong and it’s an awesome device. But to be fair, I use it currently almost exclusively as an Xcloud device, and it’s been great while away on this work trip. I’m now all about handhelds, but I think I’ll be mostly streaming…when I get home I’m going to try and setup Steam streaming and PS5 remote play.

 

[Kenpachii]

Unless it can play all ps5 games without problems and no effort with porting, there simple aren't dev groups for it to build games for it. This is also why vita got deserted after the PS4 hit the market. And why nintendo combined the two dev teams from handheld and console together in order to create game output.

This is why a handheld in the way that got announced, a streaming device was the only option for sony to push forwards with. Unless they want to move to the steam deck solution, but frankly they will never be able to provide a competitive handheld because of its gated enviroment.

 

[Perrott]

Only way to make a Sony handheld work in today's climate without harming their PS5 software output would be to make a retro handheld based on Mini Cell that natively runs PS1, PS2 and PS3 games, downloaded from the PSN.

And I'd be down for it.

 

[AV]

Handhelds aren't "gaining momentum". Nintendo handhelds have always been huge and the Switch is no exception, and the Steam Deck is great, but it's still a fairly niche thing.

 

[sono]

What is the source of the statement they are gaining momentum

 

[ArtHands]

I guess its better for them to release their games on Steam

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

Yea, it’s really simple.
A handheld on par with the scope and ambition of Sony games would cost a smidge less than the discless PS5, or even more than that.
You still wouldn’t get games on par with those on the home console, and among the reasons Vita failed there’s the fact that portable Uncharted and God of War didn’t feel like “the real thing”.
Handhelds were a cheap option when home consoles were pretty expensive and the average household only had 1 TV. Nowadays gaming is comparatively cheap and every house could have 2 TVs per room without breaking the bank. Conversely, handheld devices have become more expensive.
Finally, making bespoke games for a handheld still requires considerable resources on this day and age. You can’t make a handheld game with the budget and development time of a GBA game anymore. And to take resources away from games that require years and tens of millions of dollars as it is would be suicide.

Nintendo is the only console maker that could actually gain from doing something like the Switch.

 

[64bitmodels]

there’s the fact that portable Uncharted and God of War didn’t feel like “the real thing”.

uncharted maybe but PSP GOW was on par with the PS2 games in everything but graphics (and in that aspect, it's very close to the 'real thing')

But yea this is another reason why PC handhelds work as opposed to console handhelds... Very little optimization needs to be done as these handhelds are based off of existing PC architecture.

 

[Spyxos]

Even though I loved my Psp and I also really liked the Vita, Sony has no resources to support 2 platforms at the same time. You've already seen that with the Vita. They won't make the same mistake again.

 

[Robins]

I honestly think they could find success releasing an updated PS Vita that has no exclusive games at all but can play native PS4, 3, 2 & 1 games purchased of the psn store.

Release it at a reasonable price and support ps now / remote play.

 

[Drew1440]

Even with the Vita, towards the end it was marketed as a remote play machine for the PS4. Closest we will get to a Sony handheld is the portal, or one of their Xperia smartphones.

 

[lh032]

Not enough studio

 

[Minsc]

Yea, it’s really simple.
A handheld on par with the scope and ambition of Sony games would cost a smidge less than the discless PS5, or even more than that.
You still wouldn’t get games on par with those on the home console, and among the reasons Vita failed there’s the fact that portable Uncharted and God of War didn’t feel like “the real thing”.
Handhelds were a cheap option when home consoles were pretty expensive and the average household only had 1 TV. Nowadays gaming is comparatively cheap and every house could have 2 TVs per room without breaking the bank. Conversely, handheld devices have become more expensive.
Finally, making bespoke games for a handheld still requires considerable resources on this day and age. You can’t make a handheld game with the budget and development time of a GBA game anymore. And to take resources away from games that require years and tens of millions of dollars as it is would be suicide.

Nintendo is the only console maker that could actually gain from doing something like the Switch.

Can't the Ally run all the PS5 ports (that aren't shitty ports) with DLSS enabled for its small screen where it makes little difference with very little difference? If the handheld is truly intended at being a handheld and not outputting 4k to a HDTV, I feel like the tech is pretty close.

It is more expensive, but I'm sure Sony would have a better deal with hardware manufacturers than even Asus got.

 

[Tsaki]

>They have the studios to make some killer games.
No they don't. Making a game for Vita2 means you are not making a game for PS5. Between Sony, Nintendo and Xbox, none of them will ever have two different systems like that, at the same time, ever again. It is not sustainable unless they have like 40 fully decked-out studios. And even then, again, making a portable game means not making a game for PS5/PS6 etc.
Sony studios are barely making PSVR2 games. It is all left out to 3rd parties making VR games for PC and then porting them to PS.

 

[yurinka]

Wrong, Nintento payed for the exclusive, that's why MH3 came out on Wii and then 4 on DS, and DS proves your statement wrong, because DS sold a ton while the PSvita lost tons of tractions, in fact in the beginning they were neck and neck, once MH4 came out it was a wrap, Sony did their best to push MH clones for a reason but alas, don't ask me, a previous Vita owner, who bought 2 of them so he could play with his brother.

My statement is right: there was no market for the Vita because the huge success of the DS. Back then if people like Capcom had to decide between Sony or Nintendo portables the choice was clear: Nintendo.

 

[Shifty1897]

They're trying to hold on to the console space, they can't afford to split their studios output in half to support a handheld with exclusive titles, especially after Microsoft just dropped a hot 80 billion on ABK.

 

[Woopah]

My point is most western developers dont want to make games on handle, Japanese devs in other hand do, they make handheld games faaaaaaar more than western devs do, I mean majority of DS and 3DS games are Japanese, which also true with PSP and PSvita.The difference is Nintendo makes first party Japanese games on their handheld but Sony especially this gen have to solely rely on 3rd party games and from Vita failure we learned that wasn't enough to save it.

Japanese used to prefer handheld games as they were cheaper and the jump to HD made console development very very expensive.

That situation doesn't really exist anymore as games become more and more multiplatform, so we see both Western and Japanese publishers making games for Switch.

The only factor that might influence Japanese third parties now is that Switch has a higher market share in Asia than in Europe or North America.