Digital Foundry has confirmed the recent Bloomberg report on Sony Interactive Entertainment working on a new PlayStation handheld device.
During the latest episode of DF Direct Weekly, Digital Foundry staff members Richard Leadbetter, Alex Battaglia and John Linneman tackled the new PlayStation Handheld rumors, mentioning that they had heard of its existence several months ago.
Linneman said that Digital Foundry had actually heard about the new PlayStation handheld some months ago from a couple of sources specifically. He added that they aren’t in the business of leaking things, which is why they hadn’t mentioned anything about it up until now. That said, he found it interesting that the news finally began making the rounds because it sort of confirmed what they had seen and heard off the record about its existence.
The Digital Foundry staff member said that this strengthens the notion that Sony Interactive Entertainment is very much working on something in the handheld space. He further stated that the Bloomberg article made it seem like the unannounced device is even further out than he had actually thought. He believes there’s possibly already a prototype out there.
Leadbetter pointed out that a PlayStation handheld that can run native PS5 titles would be realistic in the immediate future. Though, scaled down versions of the console’s games would indeed run on the portable device. This would, of course, require developers to patch games in order to support the platform.
In the original Bloomberg report, it was stated that Sony Interactive Entertainment is working on a console that would play PlayStation 5 games on the go. The report further mentioned that the product is aimed at expanding Sony’s reach, contending with Nintendo for the portable gaming market, and potentially countering mobile hardware from Xbox. It was also mentioned that Sony Interactive Entertainment’s portable device is likely years away from launch and that the company may ultimately opt to not launch it.
