Agency reports that Sony is “in the early stages” of working on a fully portable console that can play PlayStation 5 software. The device is still “probably years away from release,” according to “people familiar with its development” who spoke to with Agency anonymously.
The report comes less than a year after the launch of PlayStation Portal, a portable device from Sony designed to stream PS5 games running on a console on the same local network. Recently, Sony updated the Portal firmware to allow PlayStation Plus subscribers to also stream PS5 games from Sony's centralized servers at up to 1080p and 60fps.
Sony's PS5 portable plans also come after months of rumors that Microsoft has also been working on a new Xbox console with a portable form factor. In June, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer added fuel to those rumors by saying directly: “I think we should have a handheld too… I like my ROG Ally, my Lenovo Legion Go, my Steam Deck … I think being able to play games locally is really important.”
Nintendo's follow-up to the Switch, which will be formally announced in the coming months, is also expected to mimic the handheld/console hybrid design of Nintendo's latest console.
Sony first got into the portable gaming arena with 2005's PlayStation Portable, which remains the only major portable console to use optical discs (in Sony's proprietary UMD format). Sony followed up with 2012's PlayStation Vita, a much-loved console that brought a full analog stick and larger high-resolution display to the handheld console space. But both efforts struggled to find much market success compared to the sales giants of Nintendo's cheaper Nintendo DS and 3DS hardware lines.