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Should Sony release their handheld PS6 as a “PS6” at all?

AGRacing said:
I don't see an entire generation built around the PS5 Pro pricing model working out without a significant generational leap. The hardware spec allows for it… but perhaps not when you have to simultaneously hit a 15W target as well.
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The generational leap will come from stuff like Ray and Path tracing, which can just be disabled or lowered on PS5 and portable ps6

Most big publishers are known to be risk averse. You think they'll spend $500 million to make games that they can only sell to the niche audience that has some $800+ console?
 
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Mr.Phoenix said:
Personally, I think they shouldn't make it at all. I can see how PS6 games can be scaled down to run on the handheld, even if that means running the games at 480p/360p, lowest setting of everything and using PSSR to upscale that to 1080p. I don't see that as a problem.

I just feel they would have been better making a PS portal 2 that is strictly a streaming device, and that you don't have to have a console to stream to.

I also feel the PS6 handheld would be called the PS Portal 2.
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If I was in charge there would be no ps5 handheld. Just release an oled version of the ps portal for the premium market and focus on delivering a ps6 thats a substantial bump from the ps5 pro.
 
RoadHazard said:
I hate the idea that every PS6 game also needs to work on PS6P. Series S all over again.
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I don't think it would be anything like that.

The series s simply lacked the hardware or the tech to do what it was supposed to do. If that thing had an ai upscaler... And wasn't expected to be plugged into big 4k tvs... It would have worked wonders.

Cannis is a handheld. Meaning that you'll be primarily using it on a 7-8" screen. Running games with the lowest settings possible, at resolutions as low as 360p, and upscaling them to 1080p using pssr.

This is a completely different situation.

Eg. This is spiderman 2 running at 360p upscaled to 1080p on an 8GB GPU using dlss.
 
A new PS handheld would only have a chance if it only played it's own exclusives not released anywhere else.

And those exclusives would need to be really good, and must have.
 
No need for a dedicated portable machine for SONY imho. They already have a solution but need to expand it.

Portal6 - OLED 8 inch screen / 120hz. WiFi 7, Cellular optional but built in. Put all new releases on PSCLOUD. Improve latency and charge 200.00-250.00 for it. Light Android OS for apps and cash in. I know they wont go this route but I don't want to purchase multiple games (if that even going to happen) but I just want a better portal system and PC / MAC / TV apps..
 
HErceh-aAAAw_TE
 
Liopleurodon said:
A new PS handheld would only have a chance if it only played it's own exclusives not released anywhere else.

And those exclusives would need to be really good, and must have.
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That would guarantee the thing DOA. Cause atthat point you are expecting devs to make games specifically for the PS handheld.

What sony needs to do is enure that the PS handheld simply plays everything that is made for the PS6. The PS4 games and the patched PS5 games. And it would do well as the lower-priced model of the PS6.

If it comes in at $400/$500, chances are it would even sell better than the home PS6. And if not, then it would at the very least sell as well as the PS portal and put Sony in a better position to compete with Nintendo in Japan.

There is really no downside here... as long as Sony gets it right. And by getting it right, I mean have presets in the PS6 SDK that basically allow any game made for the PS6 to scale down to the PS handheld with little to no input from devs.
 
They shouldn't release it as "PS6" cause it's highly likely that even their own titles won't look or run on the thing the same as on actual PS6, and 3rd party stuff will just be all over the place, possibly even omitting releases on either of the two platforms.
 
No. I think they should call it something else than PS6. They should probably come back with their PSP naming scheme and call it PSP3. A Playstation Portable is what it is really. But they won't do it and will probably invent another fancy name and be trapped in inventing new names every generations like Xbox was after X360.

I'd say in this case the biggest problem for developers won't be the either the memory (80% of PS6 memory should prevent the problems encountered with XSS) or the GPU, it will be the CPU as the game will have quite less threads to work on than on PS6. Cutting the framerate in half should be enough in most cases though.
 
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They should call it PS6 lite because of ML and RT. A PS6 lite version of a game should be optional and not mandatory but I bet 99% of games will have a PS6 lite version because it will be the most sold console in the PS6 family of devices. Particularly I'm thinking of a subsidized $399 PS6 lite console without the screen, battery, and controls.

And if Sony also wants to sell millions of PS Portal (handheld streaming device), then they should release a new PS Portal version that could house the PS6 lite console. Sort of a modular approach to PS6 lite handheld. A PS6 lite handheld where everything is integrated could still be released as part of the PS6 family of devices.

PS6 devices:
  • PS6
  • PS6 lite console
  • PS6 lite portable
  • PS Portal 2 (that could house the PS6 lite console attached at the back to allow offline portable gaming)
  • PS6 Pro (4 years later)

When PS6 lite console sells in the millions, then a PS Portal 2 will be a sought after peripheral.
 
I loved all the Sony handhelds. And yes, the thing should have the PS6 name. Scaling well designed games down is not rocket science. I'll prefer the handheld over the home console probably, which is funny as I was never too fond of the Switch..
 
th4tguy said:
Sony can't let it be another series s either.
The process for getting games to run on this thing needs to be super straightforward
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It wont be as easy to port as Series S / X situation.

Processor are different. It will require a proper, new port to be made for portable. Might need invention of lower than low settings for full next gen games.

kevboard said:
the Portal is already obsolete... it was obsolete before it even released.
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PS fanboys live in a bubble where Portal is doing gangbusters.
 
They should. For the japanese market and to steal/limit the Switch thunder. And attracting a whole bunch of devs their main console isn't attracting which also benefits the console.
They should have released a PS4P when the Steamdeck dropped.
They should have done a PS5P somwhere around when the eg Lenovo Legion Go released.
So imho a bit later in the lifecycle to allow tiny tech to catch up, at least a bit.
And they should release an official Sony branded smartphone controller dock and properly support Plus streaming in addition to Remote Play on Android and Apple. Instead of that nonsense Portal player.
 
Mr.Phoenix said:
I don't think it would be anything like that.

The series s simply lacked the hardware or the tech to do what it was supposed to do. If that thing had an ai upscaler... And wasn't expected to be plugged into big 4k tvs... It would have worked wonders.

Cannis is a handheld. Meaning that you'll be primarily using it on a 7-8" screen. Running games with the lowest settings possible, at resolutions as low as 360p, and upscaling them to 1080p using pssr.

This is a completely different situation.

Eg. This is spiderman 2 running at 360p upscaled to 1080p on an 8GB GPU using dlss.
Click to expand...

While I agree with what you are saying (AI upscaling and frame gen), because they can go so low in the resolution they could still have all settings pretty high (theoretically). One of the cool things that the upscaling and frame gen could do is massively improve streaming, you wouldn't need to stream at 4K or even 1080p, meaning you would massively improve streaming quality/required bandwidth by streaming at, say 640p (or lower) and then AI upscaling on the handheld side.
 
vaibhavpisal said:
It wont be as easy to port as Series S / X situation.

Processor are different. It will require a proper, new port to be made for portable. Might need invention of lower than low settings for full next gen games.
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How do you work that out?

The fallback is how the portal works, streaming. So ALL games could work without changes at all to PS6 games. Sure, that's not native, but that could be a simple trade off to get all games running for those that don't have handheld specific (or at least low power mode) versions of their games. They'll make development easy by having like they have on the PS5, a low power mode on PS6 that is basically the handheld specs.

Anyways, the way I see it is, 'technically' they wouldn't have to port games at all. All PS4 games will work natively, all PS5 and PS6 games with low power mode would work natively, all PS5 and PS6 games with no low power mode will work streamed (like Portal). Oh, and current Portal (should) still work on PS6 unless they come up with some weird new controller innovation.
 
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midnightAI said:
How do you work that out?

The fallback is how the portal works, streaming. So ALL games could work without changes at all to PS6 games. Sure, that's not native, but that could be a simple trade off to get all games running for those that don't have handheld specific (or at least low power mode) versions of their games. They'll make development easy by having like they have on the PS5, a low power mode on PS6 that is basically the handheld specs.

Anyways, the way I see it is, 'technically' they wouldn't have to port games at all. All PS4 games will work natively, all PS5 and PS6 games with low power mode would work natively, all PS5 and PS6 games with no low power mode will work streamed (like Portal). Oh, and current Portal (should) still work on PS6 unless they come up with some weird new controller innovation.
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So, this handheld is going to avoid running demanding games natively? Not a great sales pitch really.

Series X/S dont have any games that don't run natively on only one of them. They will have to make a similar setup for me to seriously consider handheld.
 
Releasing a portable would be such a weird move by Sony. And the fact that everyone seems to have a different opinion regarding what this console should be shows how much of a clusterfuck it is.

So far, the two leading theories are:
1. If it is a PS6, then not only would it feel overpriced for a portable (easiy 600-700 bucks), but it would also seriously gimp their PS6 home console. And considering that this portable PS6 would be less powerful than a PS5, good luck explaining to people why PS6 would even have exclusives. And of course, it would be less powertable than a Switch 2 WHILE possibly not being dockable (though we don't know about that).
2. If it is a portable PS5, then good luck selling a portable version of an 8 years old console on its way out. As if Sony fans didn't already own and played those games... They could make it cheaper, sure, but certainly not below 500 bucks which is still a tough sell for a console nearly outdated on release. The last time someone made this kind of move was Sega with the Nomad, and it wasn't exactly a success.
 
If it can run PS6 games? They should 100% call it PS6-something.

If it can't run PS6 games? They should 100% not call it PS6-anything.

The problem with the Series S is that it's also a console. It's competing for the exact same space as the XSX. You take that, the lower specs, and (undoubtedly) the worst console naming in the history of gaming, and you wind up with a product that introduces significant headaches in the market.

This won't be an issue for the PS6 handheld -- assuming the thing is still planned. Nobody expects the thing to be able to do path tracing, 4K120fps, split-screen co-op, etc. It's a handheld.

The biggest challenge for the PS6 handheld will be pricing + aesthetics. The Portal is $250 (for now) and the Switch 2 is $450 (for now), so it's caught between a rock and a hard place. And if it just looks like a redesigned Portal or a more glitzy Switch 2, that won't be enough to grab people's attention. As dumb as this sounds, Sony should seriously consider a clamshell or vertical aesthetic. Instant aesthetic differentiation from everything else on the market + cooler gameplay ideas can be executed.
 
vaibhavpisal said:
So, this handheld is going to avoid running demanding games natively? Not a great sales pitch really.

Series X/S dont have any games that don't run natively on only one of them. They will have to make a similar setup for me to seriously consider handheld.
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Why not? It CAN play all PS6 games without compromise other than it being streamed, how is that a bad thing? And MANY more games could be played natively (ALL PS4 games is a HUGE win)

You keep talking about S/X as though they were massive sellers, they weren't, again, why do people insist on Sony following MS? it makes zero sense. S was the base console, X was the Pro, MS decided it was a good thing to release them at the same time and in hindsight the idea was stupid. People expect a handheld to be less powerful than a standalone PC or console, concessions will be made and why should the PS6 suffer badly due to a handheld when the standalone console will sell, what, 3, 4, 5 times the number of handhelds that will be sold?

(oh, and I misread the title before, I thought the OP was talking about both the PS6 and the handheld not being called PS6, so the console, yes, PS6, the handheld, not necessarily, in fact, I think PSP 2 may work due to nostalgia, but not sure they'll go with that, maybe PS6P, dunno)
 
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midnightAI said:
Why not? It CAN play all PS6 games without compromise other than it being streamed, how is that a bad thing? And MANY more games cab be played natively (ALL PS4 games is a HUGE win)

You keep talking about S/X as though they were massive sellers, they weren't, again, why do people insist on Sony following MS? it makes zero sense. S was the base console, X was the Pro, MS decided it was a good thing to release them at the same time and in hindsight the idea was stupid. People expect a handheld to be less powerful than a standalone PC or console, concessions will be made and why should the PS6 suffer badly due to a handheld when the standalone console will sell, what, 3, 4, 5 times the number of handhelds that will be sold?
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I don't like this idea of a system that randomly streams games instead of running them natively.

How will it be decided which games will be allowed to run via streaming? While others will have to have a native port?
 
It might as well be called ps5 since its going to be a ps5 port factory. Gonna be easy money to just put every ps5 game on this.
 
vaibhavpisal said:
I don't like this idea of a system that randomly streams games instead of running them natively.

How will it be decided which games will be allowed to run via streaming? While others will have to have a native port?
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They'll separate them out on the store? it will be a digital only device that's for sure. You just wont be able to buy incompatible games on the device, and for any cross-play they'll just label them as such, they've done that previously so nothing new there

There will be games on PS6 that are designed around ray tracing/casting, those wont run on the portable, or are you saying they should sacrifice all the major tech specs of the PS6 because of a handheld?
 
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vaibhavpisal said:
I don't like this idea of a system that randomly streams games instead of running them natively.

How will it be decided which games will be allowed to run via streaming? While others will have to have a native port?
Click to expand...

It'll run all games natively. It won't need some seperate port to run them bar altering settings for optimisation.
 
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I can only speak for myself, but Steam Deck was an absolute game changer for me. I would buy a PlayStation 6 handheld day one without any hesitation.

(I don't have any interest for the Portal, because I only play my Steam Deck when I'm outside)
 
ergem said:
They should call it PS6 lite because of ML and RT. A PS6 lite version of a game should be optional and not mandatory but I bet 99% of games will have a PS6 lite version because it will be the most sold console in the PS6 family of devices. Particularly I'm thinking of a subsidized $399 PS6 lite console without the screen, battery, and controls.

And if Sony also wants to sell millions of PS Portal (handheld streaming device), then they should release a new PS Portal version that could house the PS6 lite console. Sort of a modular approach to PS6 lite handheld. A PS6 lite handheld where everything is integrated could still be released as part of the PS6 family of devices.

PS6 devices:
  • PS6
  • PS6 lite console
  • PS6 lite portable
  • PS Portal 2 (that could house the PS6 lite console attached at the back to allow offline portable gaming)
  • PS6 Pro (4 years later)

When PS6 lite console sells in the millions, then a PS Portal 2 will be a sought after peripheral.
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Only if they can promise and mandate that 100% of PS6 games will natively play on the handheld. Do you think it'll happen?

Otherwise there will be PR problems and possibly lawsuits.
 
midnightAI said:
They'll separate them out on the store? it will be a digital only device that's for sure. You just wont be able to buy them on the device, and for any cross-play they'll just label them as such, they've done that previously so nothing new there

There will be games on PS6 that are designed around ray tracing/casting, those wont run on the portable, or are you saying they should sacrifice all the major tech specs of the PS6 because of a handheld?
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Depends on how much successful they are with performance on the handheld.

And what are the future plans on devs and publishers. Sony must be aware of those.

If there Switch 2 and Series S (current) going to be supported for many years, Sony can make supporting handheld mandatory.

Ass of Can Whooping said:
They're both Ryzen. Need to come up with more intelligent fud than that.
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Only someone lacking in "intelligence" would try to spread FUD here.
 
The good news about this, is that AMD will finally have a real next gen SoC to sell to Valve for a Steam Deck 2.
 
vaibhavpisal said:
Depends on how much successful they are with performance on the handheld.

And what are the future plans on devs and publishers. Sony must be aware of those.

If there Switch 2 and Series S (current) going to be supported for many years, Sony can make supporting handheld mandatory.
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And if they make it mandatory and its a flop? that's a pretty big risk. The PS6 is pretty much guaranteed to be a hit unless they do something monumentally stupid, the handheld is much less of a guarantee. IF (and that's a big IF) the games cannot be cut down via the usual methods (lower res, lower settings, lower framerate) and still keep a decent degree of quality then why hold back the PS6 version? There wont be that many PS6 exclusives to start with of course, but I don't see why they would hold back unless the handheld is suddenly the best selling thing ever. Cutting games down to the handheld should be relatively simple if the game also supports PS5, but like I said, there's always the fallback of still being able to play the full fat version of PS6 games on the handheld via streaming anyway.

One of the things we do know about the PS6 is that its APU is designed around AI/ML, this will be used to not only do upscaling and frame gen but also to aid in other areas especially Ray Tracing/Ray Casting, this is something the PS5 cannot do, so if a dev wants to create very heavily used RT then that's when we may start to see some PS6 exclusives (my guess is that a new Ratchet will be released on PS6 at launch and that will be heavy RT use and exclusive, now whether that would work on the handheld is another matter as that will also have a similar albeit cut down APU).

You think they are going to continue support for the Series consoles? I don't, they flopped (I don't know why you keep bringing MS/Series up, they f*cked up), and of course Switch 2 is going to be supported for many years, it was only released 10 months ago
 
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