Game news A PSP capable of playing PS4 games? After the success of PS Portal, Sony wants to return to portable consoles!
Few manufacturers have been able, even for a short time, to overshadow Nintendo in the market for proprietary portable consoles. Among those who have managed to find a good place for themselves, we find Sony, which enjoyed success with its PSP before failing with the promising and powerful PS Vita. But the story may not be over.
Sony and portable consoles: like a taste of unfinished business
From December 12, 2004, Sony has become a global player in the portable console market with the PSP. Released in March 2005 in North America then in August of the same year in France, the console immediately met with success, and the different versions of the console were sold at more than 80 million units worldwide. From Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII to Pro Evolution Soccer 6 via God of War: Chains of Olympus, many titles were available, in a resolution that no Nintendo console could support.
The PSP could also play movies through its disc format, UMD. Seven years after the PSP was put on the market, Sony announced that a console was in development and that its role would be to succeed the PlayStation Portable. First presented under the name NGP (Next Generation Portable), the new console finally took the name PS Vita during E3 2011. Sony intended to ensure a smooth transition, announcing a new version of the PSP, more economical.
Equipped with a OLED display at the outputthe PS Vita arrives at the end of 2011 in Japan, before arriving in our regions in 2012. Unfortunately, and despite very high technical ambitions, the PS Vita has had a hard time finding his place. Games produced by Sony have become rarer. Competed by a Nintendo 3DS which is sold by pallets and by mobile, the PS Vita was finally abandoned in 2019 after having been sold for around 16 million units. Sony then tried to convert its portable base with Xperia smartphones, but without really pushing the idea.
The rumor of a new “PSP” is back
Since then, many gamers have been wondering if Sony will ever release a new portable console. The announcement and release of PlayStation Portal has reignited discussions, but the device is in reality just a high-end accessory, intended to play games remotely. It is finally in early February that rumors began to appear. Insider Moore’s Law is Dead (MLID) announced that Sony was working on a real new portable console, that it was in the final stages of designand that an AMD processor would be responsible for playing PS4 games and possibly PS5 games after patch.
At the time of the release of the rumor, Sony would not have yet validated the launch of this project, which resurfaced with a publication by Russian journalist Anton Logvinov. The latter claims that Sony is preparing to release a portable console, the characteristics of which seem to correspond to what had been said before. However, he seems intrigued:
By the way, I can confirm that Sony is preparing to release a new PSP, but damn: there are only PS4 games in the launch lineup, which are usually available on PC, and therefore on Steam Deck. Retailers are also quite skeptical about this. Either Sony has an idea in mind, or it is hiding things from its partners for the moment.
Because yes, if Nintendo is the only brand to offer a portable console (in reality hybrid), many machines have appeared: Steam Deck, Lenovo Legion Go or even Rog Ally can properly run a large number of titles and are gaining popularity. If Sony were to indeed return to this market, which is absolutely not certain, we would surely have to rely on an unbeatable size/power ratio. Until Sony confirms or denies all of this, be careful!