I think they misunderstood what about the steam deck is making it popular
Sony making their own Wii-U tablet but with less functionality?
Seems like a great idea, totally worked out for Nintendo
Didn’t the Wii-U mostly fail because most people didn’t know what it was? The marketing and name were terrible and plenty of people thought it was just a Wii add-on or something.
The console itself was actually pretty cool, playing Wind Waker on it was great.
For me personally, Wii U was the worst console purchase I’ve ever made lol. If it wasn’t for Smash, Mario Maker and Nintendoland with friends every once in a while I never would have turned it on. I honestly had way more fun with the Vita.
Honestly, dumb as this sounds, they can’t lose. It’s not a platform. There’s no infrastructure. It doesn’t even do cloud streaming, for some reason; it is 100.0% dependent on your hardware and your network. If Sony went bankrupt tomorrow, this gizmo would still work. If the hardware’s sold at a comfortable profit and they’re not gambling anything on its success, why wouldn’t they launch this ridiculous object? They don’t care if you don’t buy it.
It’s not a handheld. It’s an accessory.
Well they can lose if they are stuck with unsold inventory. Also r&d costs that need to be recouped.
Playing on it so someone else can watch TV is great but has no value outside your home if it relies on your PS5. For gaming like this I will stick with the Switch.
Not to mention all the same utility can be had with say a small TV or computer monitor and like a HDMI switcher for a little over $100. Maybe less if you find a good deal. I had a Wii U. The gimmick of the controller screen got old fast and it sucked pretty hard overall. Not looking to retry that failed concept.
Yup. That and, if a little more distance or wireless is needed, you can remote play to android/ios devices via PSPlay w/ dual sense and 3rd party controller support.
This is basically the non-techie or expensive taste version of the remote play experience as the WiiU screen added more functionality than mirroring.
I already use Chiaki on my Deck to play my PS4/PS5.
Sometimes my wife is using the TV for something else. Sometimes I want to be out on the porch, or in bed. Sometimes I just don’t want to put my glasses on.
This thing has a better screen and, for PS5 in particular, better controller features than the Deck.
It’s a bit pricey, but not as bad as I was expecting. If it goes on sale I’ll be tempted to grab it.
Weird that PlayStation named their device the Portal and valve didn’t though lol.
Oh my God you idiots just bring back the Xperia Play how hard is that???
Genuinely as hard as “bring back the NGage.” Nobody wants to buy a smartphone that’s also a console platform. There’s no three-year contract required, and AT&T doesn’t get to micromanage the dashboard, but it’s still two wildly different commitments for no sufficient benefit. It means being stuck with a wonky smartphone on a longer console lifecycle and overpaying for a console with all the limitations of a smartphone.
By contrast - this is a controller with a screen in it. That’s all. Why wouldn’t they sell that? What’s the downside, for them? You buy another accessory priced well beyond its material costs, you provide all the electricity and electronics necessary for it to do anything, and they don’t care if you ever play games on it. It’s not lashed to the success of yet another online store. It’s not even a vehicle for recurring subscription fees. It’s a dongle for another toy. They have no incentive to force it to catch on. If it doesn’t sell - they’ll just stop.
It’s been over a decade since Xperia Play, and two since ngage. The market has changed, people are now spending a grand on phones, gamers are now buy some very expensive hardware for their hobby.
The biggest hurdle would actually be the Google Android rules about accessing Play Services on a device that would also need its own store for PlayStation branded games.
Don’t recall mentioning price as an obstacle.
The fact people are buying expensive-ass phones is an obstacle to any console trying to be a cell phone or vice-versa. Phones already play modern-ass video games. Any new iPhone is surely more capable than a Switch. Who’s going to be swayed into buying some custom Sony bullshit just to access an entirely separate wallet vacuum?
If Sony was going to release a handheld, it’d just be an under-powered PS5 variant, as a Nintendo Switch knockoff. AMD would be happy to provide appropriate chips.
I think the issue is always going to be games. Who wants to make games targeting such a small userbase? Half of the Android games don’t even have good controller support (looking at you Genshin/Honkai)
