190°

Will Sony Ever Make Another Handheld?

Sony turned a few heads and dropped a few jaws with their first announcement of the PlayStation Portable back at E3 2004. The electronics giant had a strong level of confidence, and media and fans ate it up. With Nintendo also making known their awkward (at-the-time) dual-screened handheld, Sony was busy getting people hyped by promising a handheld that was more powerful and more functional, an impression that really stuck.

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playstationenthusiast.com
Stsonic3347d ago

They will make one for the Japanese. It appears we are a bunch of idiots over here in the west as hardly anyone bought the excellent Vita.

mikeslemonade3347d ago

I hope they don't because Sony is going into the red more because they didn't make money with the Vita or PSP. They need to focus on the home console and make more games for the home console.

3346d ago
gokuking3346d ago

@mikeslemonade "they didn't make money with [...] PSP."

Who told you that lie? As far as we know, PSP was never sold below manufacturing cost. It moved more than 80 million units globally and more than 400 million units of software. The giga failure known as PS3 may have ate all of the money PSP made, but PSP was certainly a positive.

I'm not sure the Vita ecosystem as a whole is profitable for Sony, but in their latest financials they've said the platform, despite its meager sales, are a positive impact on their bottom line.

Thehyph3346d ago (Edited 3346d ago )

I'm inclined to agree with gokuking.

The PSP definitely spent years outperforming the PS3. Also, just because there's not a lot of Vita hardware sold doesn't mean it's not profitable. The system has possibly the highest software attach rate of any console ever, and a substantial portion of the software sales are digital based.

It's safe to assume that the profit margin is, on average, higher for Vita than it is for PS4 even. I would estimate that PS4 is only more profitable from sheer volume of sales.

ABizzel13346d ago

Dedicated handheld, most likely not.

PlayStation Tablet, most likely yes.

A tablet is bigger, can house better hardware & battery, has more diversity, and can be sold at a higher price without too much complaint ($299 or more).

Have a blog coming up about this.

Highlife3346d ago

I don't think they will. I think they will go the mobile route. But if they do I hope they require controllers. Sony would then have a huge market to profit from. I think really good quality games are still lacking in mobile and games like golden abyss could make a killing.

never4get3346d ago

Sony Xperia 3DZ with Playstation Controller Attachment and HDMI output.

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MrSec843347d ago

Me too, the market's still there, so it would make sense for Sony to make anther handheld in the future.
Vita would have been fine and sold much better if Sony hadn't used expensive custom memory cards or reduced the support for big exclusives.

Proper marketing, price point, the right kinds of games for the handheld market and sales will come.

SilentNegotiator3346d ago (Edited 3346d ago )

They just need to make sure that it's priced better at the start, that they aren't releasing a bunch of duds of popular IPs themselves and that third parties are releasing competent versions of popular IPs (even if they have to fund it themselves; good games to get a system going are very important), not give the memory cards an outrageous price (hacking is inevitable; just give us non-proprietary memory cards, dang it!), etc.

Sony made a LOT of mistakes with Vita and someone has to be replaced before they release a new handheld.

Blaze9293346d ago (Edited 3346d ago )

handhelds are dead (at least for Sony). Unless their handheld will also serve as a tablet and MAYBE cellular phone post 2015+, I don't see the point. Especially after nothing came of the Vita.

For the most part, people would rather just buy a cell phone or tablet that plays games - and does everything else the want to do through apps and an active marketplace continuously bringing new apps.

C-H-E-F3346d ago

No need to this gen, they have the PS Vita playing ps3 games and soon to be PS4 games.. Far as raw power I still don't understand why devs. aren't taking advantage of such power within the handheld.

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Protagonist3347d ago

Personally, I would love another handheld from Sony.

USMC_POLICE3347d ago

Personally I'd love games for this one first.

miyamoto3347d ago (Edited 3347d ago )

Since game development on PS Vita and PS4 is almost the same a slim PlayStation 4 gaming laptop with varying LCD screen sizes (13"-17"), DualShock 4 and keyboard will be the ultimate portable gaming console at anytime and any place.

F0XHOUND3347d ago (Edited 3347d ago )

Now I'm classed as a ps4 fanboy for literally just preferring the console over Xbox... but that idea is silly, the vita is handheld.... gaming laptops would destroy a PS laptop...

An evolution for a vita 2.0, maybe pushing to a 7" screen, with full triggers and a more advanced analogue control with full game support and dev support would be epic. I'd argue no tech upgrades too, so old vita owners can still game on at that stage, the vita is still beast! Plus remote play is great, on a 7/8" screen it'd be crazy!

Thehyph3346d ago

I'll somewhat agree with this.

My gripe with my Vita is that I don't feel that it's portable. I feel like I would rather see it shrink to a comfortable pocketable size, or expand and lose any chance of portability for an increase in power and controls.

Stsonic3347d ago

They were doing this in the 90's and it bombed.

BABY-JEDI3347d ago

Will Nintendo ever make another handheld? It seems to me they keep regurgitating the same one while changing its colors.

hellothere19773346d ago

Option 1) Regurgitate and still sell out your product, or

Option 2) spend tens of millions on r&d, etc., to sell out.

Hmmm, what to do.

BABY-JEDI3346d ago

I kind of think Nintendo should make a furry handheld that talks to you like Furby. It would say 'pleeease play me, I'm gooood fun'
Now my kid would be sold on this & I would have to spend serious mullah to get it.
; )

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150°

Sony Patents To Prevent You From In-Game Harassment By Reading Your Emotions

A new patent recently published by Sony wants to gather biometric data of gamers to track whether one is being harassed using AI tools.

Profchaos1d 7h ago (Edited 1d 7h ago )

I hope this is one of those patents that never comes to fruition.

I already dislike the fact you can pay a significant amount for a online service buy associated games and content on said service and get banned from that service over potentially a misunderstanding the bans are already handed out for flimsy reasons

I'd rather see money invested in a ban that simply removes the offensive players ability to communicate with unknown players allow them to continue party chats with friends but not with Joe blow on cod.

exputers1d 3h ago

Agreed. Blizzard recently banned a college Overwatch 2 player who's dependent for saying "shit." Pretty harsh.

Profchaos12h ago(Edited 12h ago)

How rediculas really. You can't say a word that's allowed in most PG films and prime time TV but the game is based around killing the enemy team using guns, explosives etc.

It's just backwards.

just_looken14h ago

What your talking about is called block list

In 2006 a spaceship dropped of the playstation 3/xbox 360 i say that that generation was the last great gen with game functions/tech that has yet to comeback

Anyhow the playstation 3 if you block listed a id they could not talk to you in chatroom with either text or voice. But that was pre mind fucked 2018 when people were more human than sheep.

But hey gta 6 is coming out billion dollar budget without a single player custom character creator and without singeplayer coop off/online something saints row 1-3 had on the xbox 360.

z2g23h ago

Take my social security and bank account numbers too! Here’s a picture of my wife and our address.

phoenixwing23h ago

Cmon where's the pictures of your children. Don't hold out on them.

H923h ago

At this rate I feel Sony will eventually sell a room to play games in it where they can monitor your every breath

jambola19h ago

I genuinely get a bit worried sometimes when a friend says something that could be offensive In a party
Because I have no trouble believing some bans would happen when in a private party for saying something wrong

SegaSaturn66922h ago

I want them to censor erotic content by measuring my groin temperature so i dont get too distracted while playing black ops 2.

Popsicle22h ago

Terrible idea. Not only do I not consent to providing my biometric data, the potential for mishandling biometric data is almost a certainty. Positive stress and negative stress can produce similar changes in biometrics. Interpreting the precise emotion a person is feeling is not only invasive but could be easily misconstrued. I hope this never comes to fruition.

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130°

Sony Could Increase Your Game's Difficulty If It Sees You Complain About It

Sony has recently published a new patent that wants to dynamically handle the games' difficulty and gameplay based on the player's emotions.

jznrpg1d 15h ago

This is something I might use. Sometimes I play some good games but they don’t have difficulty option and are a little too easy.

Profchaos1d 15h ago

Souls games will be like that players struggling make it harder

PassNextquestion1d 14h ago (Edited 1d 14h ago )

I think if used correctly it could work well

jambola1d 10h ago

cool idea
cool idea for horror games especially
the way it's explained here sounds like it could never be forced hopefully, so that's ok with me

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280°

Sony Taps Bungie's Head of Revenue to Lead Live-Service Games

Sony has recruited Bungie's head of revenue Jaremy Rich to head up its live-service gaming division, Rich has announced on social media.

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techraptor.net
ChasterMies21d ago

Please do not put Destiny’s monetization into Sony’s first party games. The monetization is what’s driving players away from Destiny.

just_looken21d ago

The new temp boss is the sony cfo bean counter so i can see this being a thing get every penny.

Cacabunga21d ago

PlayStation officially losing it.. fans will never support gaas games

just_looken21d ago

@car

The new boss did a interview in japan he wants to tap into the mobile market like nintendio so he give 0 fucks about gamers/fans

https://www.pushsquare.com/...

Redemption-6421d ago

@Cacabunga
You only speak for you and those who think like you, but most fans will support what they want. Playstation and PC fans are literally supporting Helldivers 2 and that is a gaas. Maybe you wouldn't, but many more would if they like it.

Huey_My_D_Long21d ago

@Redemption-64
Look, Im not making any judgement calls about this guy, but I will say that Helldivers 2 GaaS model is unique to Helldivers, and legit the only other game I can think of thats similiar was the Avengers game except HD2 pass is still better.
The fact that you can earn in game currency in a way that doesnt make you feel like you have to grind forever, as well you being able work on that pass that you bought...on your own time without a time limit...that right there is fucking huge to me, and I can't name any game other than avengers that avoided trapping players with FOMO logic...I think GaaS on HD2 shouldn't be compared to the rest of the industry...it should be copied.

Einhander197221d ago

Cacabunga

Helldivers 2...

Redemption-64

In Europe it's a 60 40 split favoring PC.
In the US its a 60 40 split favoring PS5.

So PlayStation owners supported the game just fine, it's not getting carried by PC or anything like that.

FinalFantasyFanatic21d ago

@just_looken,
I'm perfectly fine with the way Nintendo entered the mobile market, I never touched their mobile games, meanwhile, the console/handheld stayed the way it is. As for being a bean counter, he's probably going to reel in these massive budgets that Sony's studios have had lately, I haven't played Spiderman 2, but I cannot see how they almost tripled the budget for that game.

@Redemption-64,
That's an exception to the rule, I'm expecting a lot of these GAAS games from Sony to fail, to be fair, they only need a few to succeed, but I would have preferred that they put more of their resources into other types of games.

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DivineHand12521d ago

True their monetization is driving players away and at the same time, their decision to chop out content and convoluted systems is keeping new players away from the game.

Joe91321d ago

I don't think that will happen based on how things worked out at Naughty Dog now that we know what we do, seems they had the option to fully commit to live service games or stay making single player experences so they gave up on their live service game. We are not sure how things came about with Bend making a live service game but I hope that was not a forced situation. Sony doesnt seem like they are forcing studios to switch up but we will see, Sony's bread and butter is single player games it is how they dominated the console market.

Obscure_Observer21d ago

Yeah, I though Sony learned something from all their failures in the LS segment under Bungie´s disastrous leadership and supervision which led to games been cancelled, studios closed and all the people laid off.

Looks like Bungie still plays a major role in Sony´s LS initiative and Sony is not backtracking on their GaaS plans.

S2Killinit21d ago (Edited 21d ago )

Are we forgetting that Destiny is also a highly successful franchise? I feel like that definitely deserves mention here.

Besides, there is no reason why a person cant learn from past experiences.

Joe91321d ago

I agree, people act as if Destiny flopped when it came out lol it took 9 to 10 years for the numbers to fall yet people are still playing it add the success of Helldivers 2 no wonder Sony is going forward down this path.

S2Killinit20d ago

Personally, I see no problem with Sony also having service games as long as they make good ones, and more importantly they deliver the AAA story driven games that they are known for. So yeah, I agree 100% with you.

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Christopher21d ago

I mean, this person made some pretty bad decisions at Bungie. I hope they've learned from them because I definitely don't see those type of ideas as good for PlaySation in general.

CrimsonWing6921d ago (Edited 21d ago )

Honestly, what’s to learn from? How to make people happily continuously dump money into a single game over its life-time? Buy season passes continuously for several years with a smile on our faces?

GaaS is a design decision that is everything wrong with this industry. The fact that Helldivers 2 did so well and people defend the monetization because it was $40 and is a fun game, scares the sh*t out of me to see that the door is open and all shift will probably be to replicate that in future games. We already know the ROI for traditional game dev cost isn’t doing it for them.

I thought with Jimbo leaving we’d see a change for the better… I’m not so sure now.

S2Killinit20d ago

Service games are being offered by everyone. Sony cannot afford to only create single player AAA games. No one can. They already said they will be doing both.

Abnor_Mal21d ago (Edited 21d ago )

Ps5 gamers in 2023 seemed to play more live service types of games, so regardless to how people feel about them, numbers don’t lie and Sony is going where the money is. I mean look at the excitement around Helldivers2, people are showing that they want live service games.

Christopher21d ago

They play long-time existing live service games like CoD, Fortnite, Apex Legends, Destiny 2, and the like. Mass majority of new live service games are considered failures and aren't moving gamers away from older games.

just_looken21d ago

Yep the huge issue with live service is they need paid players along with a reason to play them.

You forgot mobile market that also taps into that player base as well as the eve online style games there is only a certain amount of krakens/whales blind supporters compared to the amount of live service games we have its not sustainable math wise.

700 restaurants making food for every seat for 1000-3000 eaters just does not work out

Einhander197221d ago (Edited 21d ago )

Christopher

I am not a big live service fan and literally own zero of the games you listed, but that is not true, unless you call games that aren't the top games to be failures.

There are tons of live service games that are profitable.

Games don't have to be the biggest game ever they just need to make more than they cost.

I challenge you to show professionally prepared data that shows that more live service games fail than make enough to keep going.

Because all the data that I have seen shows that live service is less of a gamble than making a big AAA budget game which needs to survive off retail sales.

FinalFantasyFanatic21d ago

I sometimes wonder if we're at saturation point, where it's hard for a new game to join those ranks unless it's particularly exceptional, people only have so much time and money to devote to these types of games.

romulus2321d ago

Correction, they have no issue playing good live service games

shinoff218321d ago

Lol it's not even a quarter of the ps5s sold. Helldivers may have been a hit but let's not say most are enjoying it because truth is most(the real most ) don't care about it.

S2Killinit20d ago (Edited 20d ago )

I play what is fun. If a live service game is good I’ll play it as long as its not a money scheme which Helldivers is not.

And Im a single player gamer.

mastershredder21d ago

How do you kill a franchise that already been killed?
Destiny’s grind, cash-in-on-playbass-cha-Ching, and pop-culture-insertion mainstream-me-too bs totally killed any rep Bungie had. Sony/Bungie, if you are doing this to ward-off players, it’s already working.

crazyCoconuts21d ago

Headline truncated:
"... off a cliff"

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