Sony works on a portable console to compete with Nintendo

It should be remembered that the firm already has experience in the field of portable consoles. In the mid-2000s, it launched the PlayStation Portable (PSP), which sold around 80 million units, and later continued with the PS Vita, but discontinued content for both in October 2020.

Throughout the years of development of the gaming industry, Sony has been one of the leading brands. In addition to having the best-selling console (PS2, 155 million units), it also dominates the third and fourth position in sales (PS4 and PS1, with 117,102 million units), according to Statista data.

Portable consoles, the object of gaming desire

The portable console sector has become one of the most attractive today and Nintendo has demonstrated the benefits of this format in financial terms. As of August of this year, Nintendo Switch had sold just over 143 million units.

Such figures reflect the striking nature of the concept and that is why many companies have chosen to make it an alternative in their product portfolio. Steam, for example, launched the Deck console a few years ago, whose idea is to be a gaming PC adapted to a portable console.

According to figures from the consulting firm Omdia, more than 20 million Steam Decks have been sold worldwide and that is why other companies focused on computers, such as Asus or Lenovo, have launched their own portable consoles (ROG Ally and Legion Go, respectively). ).

Xbox is another of the industry’s major competitors that is also interested in launching its own portable platform for playing video games. Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, confirmed these intentions in a recent interview and noted that they are working with various prototypes.

Although their expectation is to generate a competitor in this segment, they said that at this moment they are exploring the market to determine how the industry is and generate a completely new and own version.

“In the long term, I love that we create devices. I think our team can do some really innovative work, but we want to stay informed by learning about what’s happening now (in the market),” Spencer said.