Bloomberg reports that Sony is “in the early stages” of working on a fully portable console that can play PlayStation 5 software. According to “people familiar with the development” who spoke anonymously to Bloomberg, the device is “likely many years away from launch.”
This announcement comes less than a year after the launch of PlayStation Portal, Sony’s portable device designed to stream PS5 games running on the console on the same local network. Sony recently updated the portal’s firmware to allow PlayStation Plus subscribers to also stream PS5 games from Sony’s centralized servers at up to 1080p and 60 frames per second.
The announcement of Sony’s plans for a portable PS5 comes after months of rumors that Microsoft is also working on a new Xbox console with a portable form factor. In June, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer added fuel to the fire of these rumors by bluntly stating: “I think we should release a portable console too… I like my ROG Ally, my Lenovo Legion Go, my Steam Deck… I think the ability to play games locally is very important.”
Nintendo’s next console, which will be officially announced within the next few months, is also expected to mimic the hybrid design of Nintendo’s latest handheld console.
Sony first entered the portable gaming market in 2005 with the PlayStation Portable, which is still the only major portable console to use optical discs (in Sony’s own proprietary UMD format). In 2012, Sony released the PlayStation Vita, a much-loved console that brought a full analog joystick and a larger, high-resolution screen to the handheld market. But both projects did not have much success in the market compared to the cheaper Nintendo DS and 3DS lines, which became sales giants.
Honey, I shrunk the PS5
A portable PS5 would have continued the trend toward portable console design started by Nintendo’s hugely successful Switch in 2017 and reinforced by the Steam Deck in early 2022 (and its many PC and Android-based imitators). The ability to play games on the go at low HD resolution-without having to take up a living room TV-has proven popular in a market segment that is seeing diminishing returns on the quest for ever higher graphics fidelity in many games and genres.
Squeezing the entire PS5 hardware stack into a portable form factor may seem like a daunting task, given that at launch in 2020, the PS5 was one of the largest consoles ever made. But Sony has already had some success in shrinking the form factor – for example, this year’s more powerful PS5 Pro was significantly smaller than the original console.
The portable PS5 may not have to output the original console’s 4K graphics either – even the largest portable gaming devices still support a maximum resolution of 1080p. The hardware required for such a “scaled-down” PS5 software could end up taking up much less physical space, much like the reduced hardware power and overall size of Microsoft’s Xbox Series S compared to the more high-end Xbox Series X.
In May, Sony reported that 56 million units have been sold since the launch of the PS5. However, the number of PS5s actively used on a monthly basis was on par with the active use of the PS4 a decade ago, suggesting that many gamers are still hesitant to upgrade.
