PlayStation handheld rumours: Will there really be a new PSP or Vita?
Vita-l information has supposedly leaked about a Sony handheld device.
In the wake of the PlayStation Portal, many have been left yearning for a Sony handheld that can natively run games rather than streaming them, and a recent supposed leak points to such a thing coming true - so we’ve taken it upon ourselves to see if there really will be a new PSP or Vita.
It’s not like handhelds aren’t exactly unpopular, after all, as demonstrated by the colossal success of the Nintendo Switch, and Steam Deck to a lesser extent – something we’ll touch upon later in this article.
With such a gigantic back catalogue and much of it available through PS Plus, a handheld that could play all these older (and potentially new) titles on the go would be brilliant.
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So, with the Switch 2 looming on the horizon, could Sony be looking to walk a mile or two in the handheld shoes? We’ll discuss all down below!
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Why are people talking about a new PlayStation handheld?
Known leaker Moore's Law is Dead (MLID) posted a video (embedded above) on 1st February 2024 detailing a "leak" for a device dubbed the 'PS Vita 2'.
MLID states that it is in "high-level design", which means that the final look or feature set of the device is yet to be finalised.
MLID also stipulates that Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), which manufactures the APUs used in the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Steam Deck, is developing a custom APU for the device, but this too is in active development.
This APU is supposedly "at least two years out", which would give ample time for developers to implement a "Pro-like patch" for PS5 titles to run on the platform, too.
MLID goes on the record to say: "To be clear – what I can 100 per cent confirm is that there is a new PlayStation handheld in early development," but that, "the exact specs and details… are speculation by me."
This is said to come from sources within AMD. Whether it comes to pass is another matter.
Will it really happen?
Theoretically, such a thing is possible - and financially, it may make sense for Sony to make a handheld successor to the PSP and PS Vita.
The Nintendo Switch is by far and away the best-selling console in Japan (which favours handhelds) according to Statista, and Nintendo has sold hundreds of millions of Switches - with the handheld fast approaching toppling the PlayStation 2 as the best-selling console of all time.
Globally, the Switch outsells all current-gen consoles by a significant margin.
Sony’s own PlayStation Portable sold just over 80 million units in its 10-year life cycle, all while sharing console space with the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3, making it clear that a home console and handheld can live side-by-side.
The difference with the Switch, however, is that it only has one pool of games, rather than two subsets, as was the case with the PSP and PS Vita or Wii U and 3DS. Sony would ideally look to ensure all its games have a handheld version to avoid a split user base.
All said, it’s a lot of money Sony is potentially leaving on the table, and we wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t want a repeat of a Nintendo-led supremacy.
Also proving how popular handhelds are is the Steam Deck. The Deck is broadly comparable to a PS4, in terms of power for their respective target screen resolutions and so on.
With further die shrinks, an AMD APU in two or so years would easily beat this level of performance, and PS5 games targeting a lower resolution may in fact work as well.
With all this in mind, a PSP 2 is a big maybe right now, but it’s definitely in the realms of possibility.
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