Gamers are desperate to find any scrap of information they can about the PS6 lately. With Xbox focusing more and more on services like Game Pass, and Nintendo just releasing its latest hardware with the Switch 2 a few months ago, PlayStation is the only company whose future we still don’t have a clear picture of.
What we do know, however, is that there will be a new console — multiple, if leaks are to be believed. The latest of which may have revealed all the juicy details about a PS6 handheld console launching alongside the PS6 proper.
After the pitiful failure of the Vita, many assumed PlayStation had washed its hands of dedicated handhelds, but the PS6 handheld has all the ingredients it needs to succeed where the Vita failed.
It wasn’t the hardware
On paper, the Vita should’ve crushed Nintendo’s 3DS. It trounced Nintendo’s device in every metric, from power and controls to screen quality and resolution. Of course, history has taught us that raw power doesn’t win a console war, and the Vita struggled to make even a dent in the handheld market.
So, what was the problem? It wasn’t the hardware, but a combination of software and integration.
Software is the easiest issue to grapple with. The Vita did have great games, both classic and new, but there just wasn’t enough of them. Remember, the Vita was up against the likes of Mario, Zelda, and Pokémon here; a half-decent Uncharted game and Killzone spin-off isn’t going to shift the tides.
This is also the start of a disturbing trend we’d later see PlayStation repeat with future hardware experiments, such as the PSVR 2, which is the reflex to immediately stop supporting and ignore anything but its home console. After its first year or so, the Vita saw next to no major support from any PlayStation studio. Worse, Sony itself seemed to want to pretend the Vita didn’t exist. It was excluded from showcases, stopped getting marketed, and only brought it up in the context of a companion device to the wildly successful PS4.
Without any push or faith from PlayStation to boost sales, third-party support dried up as well, thus causing a feedback loop of fewer people buying it because there were “no games.”
The PS6 handheld leaks describe a device that can play PS4 and PS5 games natively — not via remote play or cloud streaming like the Portal. While I assume there will be no disc drive, that does imply I will be able to access and download my entire digital library with this device. This is a nut no other company has fully cracked yet, despite how consumer-friendly and marketable it is.
Xbox has nailed this aspect for consoles, but is still working through some growing pains in giving players full access to our libraries on other devices. Not all Xbox games work on PC, or vice versa, which will also apply to the ROG Xbox Ally. Xbox plugs some holes with cloud streaming, but that tech isn’t solid enough to be an adequate replacement for most. Nintendo was the first to merge home and handheld, but the Switch 2 only goes back one generation (not counting NSO games).
Purchasing a dedicated handheld knowing it comes with thousands of playable games already, plus not having to worry about PlayStation or third parties dropping support, makes it the most enticing handheld on the market for a console gamer.
Going hybrid
After letting the Vita flounder on its own for a while, PlayStation made a mild attempt at revising its marketing angle as a remote play device and companion to the PS4. It wasn’t elegant, and it didn’t catch on, but the idea was great. It was basically a Switch before the Switch, only more expensive and bound by Wi-Fi.
Now, gamers don’t want to choose between a home console and a handheld. It’s all or nothing, and the PlayStation knows what time it is. Giving the PS6 handheld a dock doubles its value, even if most people only decide to use it in one style.
We’re at the point where home consoles are topping out in terms of graphical fidelity — at least in terms of what the majority of gamers can actually see. I have argued for a long time that the PS6 can’t just be a more powerful box, but if there’s a handheld option in the mix, PlayStation could cover both bases without splitting its focus like it did with the Vita.
At the end of the day, success or failure will all come down to one thing: price. Going back to the leaks that started this entire thought experiment, the estimated cost of a PS6 handheld could be as low as $400 – $500. For a handheld that is leaps and bounds stronger than the Switch 2 or even Xbox Ally X, that’s an insane value if PlayStation can pull it off. Granted, those are just estimates and the whole tariff situation makes any economic speculation a bit of a wash, but it does seem like PlayStation is fighting to do everything it can to price this handheld in the same ballpark as the Switch 2 rather than the Xbox Ally X.
Of course, not stepping on the rake that was those insanely priced memory cards for the Vita is an easy win.
The PS6 handheld has all the cards it needs to soar where the Vita crashed and burned.
