An arms race in the handheld department appears to be underway. Nintendo's next piece of hardware is expected to be revealed in 2025 (speculation points to March), and Microsoft is in talks of producing their own portable machine. The Steam Deck has proven to be an ideal alternative for gamers. It now appears Sony is more than intrigued to jump back into the field.

According to Bloomberg's Takashi Mochizuki and Debby Wu, the gaming giant is in the works on developing a new handheld PlayStation device that will play PS5 titles. As the report states:

"Sony’s portable device is likely years away from launch and the company could still decide against bringing it to market, the people said, asking not to be named discussing private plans."

As recently reported, the PlayStation Portal received an update that allows remote access to your PlayStation 5 library at the Premium subscription tier. It's currently in its beta stage, and given how the Portal ended up selling better than Sony anticipated, there could be a further expansion of access. Likely a part of the reason as to why Sony may change plans on a new unique handheld system, if the Portal truly kicks off and provides the adequate portable experience. Sony's last handheld effort was the PlayStation Vita, which launched in 2011, and was officially discontinued in 2019.

SOURCE: Bloomberg