Sony in 'Early Stages' of Developing New PS5 Gaming Handheld to Compete With Nintendo Switch: Report

Sony is reportedly working on a handheld that will natively play PS5 games, contrary to the PlayStation Portal that only serves as a remote player for the console. The PlayStation parent is said to have begun early development on the portable device. The company reportedly intends to position a new gaming handheld as a competitor to the highly successful Nintendo Switch. Sony's current portable device, the PlayStation Portal, launched last year and only streams games and media from a connected PS5 over Wi-Fi.

New Sony Handheld in the Works

The information comes from Bloomberg, which reported Monday that Sony was in “early stages” of developing a new gaming handheld for playing PS5 games on the move. According to the report, the portable device was aimed at expanding Sony's offerings and competing with Nintendo in the handheld space.

A Sony handheld would reportedly also go up against a potential portable gaming device from Xbox parent Microsoft. Microsoft gaming chief Phil Spencer has expressed interest in an Xbox handheld several times and the company is expected to enter the portable gaming space at some point, especially considering that several Windows-based gaming handhelds have launched over the past year, all of which support the Xbox app and allow players to play games from their Xbox and Game Pass library.

Spencer, in a recent interview with Bloomberg, said the “expectation is that we would do something” in the handheld category. Microsoft is reportedly working on prototypes for the device and considering its approach. The Xbox chief, however, confirmed that a Microsoft handheld device is a few years out.

Sony's planned portable gaming device, too, is likely years away from launch, the report claimed, citing people familiar with the company's plans. The company's plans could also change, and it could reportedly end up not bringing the device to market.

PlayStation Portal

The handheld, if released, would expand Sony's hardware offerings in the gaming space. The PlayStation Portal, launched in November 2023, delivers portable gaming experience, but only while linked to a parent PS5 console. The device cannot run PS5 games natively and requires a high-speed Wi-Fi connection to stream games from the linked console, which must stay in rest mode to enable remote play.

Sony, however, expanded the capabilities of the PlayStation Portal last week by releasing an update that adds support for cloud streaming certain PS5 games. The feature, currently available in beta, would be available to PlayStation Plus Deluxe/ Premium tier subscribers. With cloud streaming support, Portal users would be able to stream over 120 PS5 games directly from Sony's servers, without requiring a PS5.