Your personal opinions on Q-Lite (The next PlayStation handheld console)?

Dear gamers on the Giant Bomb forums

A couple of days ago, there are several gaming news articles about Sony Interactive Entertainment appearing to be developing the next PlayStation handheld being posted across the internet, while I haven't seen anyone on this site speculating and expressing opinions on this so I decided to make a thread of it.

Article links:

• New PlayStation Handheld in the Works; Always Online, Built Around Remote Play – Rumour (gamingbolt.com)
• Sony may be working on a new PlayStation portable device codenamed "Q Lite" | TechSpot

Here are my personal thoughts on this:

I'm not interested in this because it's a cloud gaming console rather than able to run games natively plus I'm personally not into handheld gaming these days compared to gaming desktop PC and home consoles.

Edit: I also don't like cloud gaming in general.

Unfortunately, if the rumor is true, it just sounds like Sony trying to play catch-up with Nintendo in the handheld market again. But unlike the PSP, which was significantly more powerful than what Nintendo was offering, this just sounds like a much worse Switch.

The current era of big, clunky portable gaming (switch, steam deck, and now maybe this) has no appeal to me whatsoever. I'd be more interested if they put more resources behind their mobile game development to make unique, interesting games distinct from what's on consoles.

This idea is... weird. The advantage of handhelds is you can play anywhere. Having to be online defeats the whole point.

I'm not terribly interested in companion devices. I would love to see a new Sony portable console, but I understand why they may take this route instead too. Even though people largely consider the Vita a failure, it had a pretty good run and delivered a sizable and compelling library. Is it possible there will be "local" experiences developed for this platform?

Sounds more like them trying to capitalize on the streaming market that everyone else is trying to make happen. Like the Logitech G Cloud but potentially good?

What if it was just a PS4? Something portable that natively plays PS4 titles that you might already own (and stream PS5 games to) sounds somewhat compelling, and could probably be made cheaply enough. Maybe you could even authenticate disc titles using a drive-equipped PS4/5 and install them to the handheld over a local network?

It'd all be in the execution I guess, but I feel like there's something to the idea.

The idea has potential, but I have no faith whatsoever that Sony can deliver on it. Remote play has been hit or miss for years, and PS+ streaming quality is massively variable at best, even on a wired connection.

Plus, even if they do release it, they'll probably just drop support for it after 6 months and leave it to third parties to pick up the slack.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love for Sony to release a great new handheld - I used my Vita well past the time Sony gave up on it - but I just don't think Sony's heart has ever been in handheld devices, and current era Sony doesn't seem like the company that would put much effort into a new device at the minute.

This is one of those things that should just be an app on a phone, PC or TV. Paying what i assume is going to be $100+ for a device that just streams from my home console on my home network is not worth it, when the price of a free app and a device i already have is an option.

Even if it's just a streaming device, it might have some potential as an emulator or homebrew device, depending on whatever this thing might end up being, if anything at all. There's always been a history of that stuff on PlayStation handhelds. Might be nice to have something new in that scene from Sony.

I absolutely loved the Vita, and that's all I got to say about Sony handhelds.

Maybe no one is talking about it because it's just not that interesting? A device that can stream PlayStation games. I already have that in my phone, my Steam Deck, hell even my Vita can do that. Why would I want a device that can ONLY do that?

Plus, knowing Sony, it'll probably cost more than any of the aforementioned devices.

Whats the point speculating on something unconfirmed

I dunno, Grubb does it all the time. <ducks back inside>