What if Sony offered a machine that competed with Nintendo’s Switch? It must be said that the success of the portable console, which is breaking sales records, is causing envy. For its part, Sony is also achieving very good sales with its Playstation 5 but only offers, for portability, the PS Portal. This screen allows you to play remotely, connecting to your home console via the cloud. Suffice to say, it doesn’t offer the same ease of use as the Switch.
A hybrid console to replace the PS Portal?
Five and a half years after the end of production of the PS Vita, Sony is in the midst of developing a new portable console, Bloomberg announces. The media, which cites several well-informed sources, explains that the manufacturer would like to extend the Playstation brand to another audience, competing once again with Nintendo in the field of hybrid consoles.
To do this, Sony would rely on the work done on PS Portal, which launched in 2023. While it can’t run games locally, it was once expected to be able to, like the Steam Deck.
In the end, it was decided to favor cloud gaming, making it necessary to have a Playstation 5 (which will run the games remotely). However, Sony recently made it possible to access cloud gaming from PS Portal via the PS Plus Premium subscription, without needing to turn on your PS5 remotely.
Bloomberg does not go much further in its revelations and does not indicate any release date. However, we will have to act quickly: the Playstation 5 began its end of life in April 2024. In addition, Nintendo must announce and launch its next console during 2025. The Japanese company has also confirmed that Switch games would be backward compatible with its Futura console that would maintain its hybrid model started with the Switch.
In renewing its interest in the portable console market, Sony is certainly aware of the loss of speed in the home console market. In Japan, Sony has a lot of difficulty imposing its machine on Nintendo’s, which has the advantage of being able to fit almost anywhere.
Source: BFM TV
