After Producing Impressive Number of PSP Units in Its Lifetime, Will Any Other Sony Handheld Replicate Such a Performance in the Future?

Recently, former SIE CEO Shawn Layden revealed to the public that Sony produced a total of over 82.5 million PSP consoles in its lifetime. The console also sold close to 80.79 million units in its lifetime, from November 2004 to September 2014. The PlayStation Portable has ten years of life and three hardware revisions.

Then it got a unique and powerful successor, the PlayStation Vita, which was not even half as successful as the PSP. But it was no doubt a very good handheld console. It had all the bells and whistles of its predecessors and more. Hence, this series does deserve a successor; would it get one, though?

Sony PlayStation and Nintendo’s history in portable gaming

Back when the PlayStation Portable launched, Nintendo already had a player in the market. The Nintendo DS was launched to the public in November 2004, four months ahead of the PlayStation Portable’s launch, and it was indeed a very interesting console. Dual Displays, one of them touch, a stylus to operate the touch screen, face buttons, d-pad, and shoulder buttons—a very to-the-point device.

The PlayStation Portable, on the other hand, was a gamer’s console. While the controls were pretty much similar to the DS’s, there were some things that made all the difference. The PSP did not have a touch screen. Its form factor was much more comfortable than the DS’s clamshell design, and it had an analog pad. Yes, a console with a make-do analog stick. With its black finish, the console screamed gaming.

And Sony sold it as exactly that—a gamer’s console. It also got a watered-down version of pretty much every game that was released on the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3. That means PSP owners could easily say they were playing the biggest franchises on their console. From Call of Duty, Brothers in Arms, and Gran Turismo to GTA and God of War, every series made an appearance, and most of them continuously set standards for graphics on portable consoles.

The DS, on the other hand, was a casual gamer’s device. Games like Pictionary, Nintendogs, etc. became bestsellers on it. Of course, Nintendo brought massive titles like Star Fox, Zelda: Spirit Tracks, and Mario 64 to that console, and let’s not forget Metroid Prime Hunters. It can easily be said that Nintendo fans were getting everything they wanted from a Nintendo handheld. It was also pleasing a huge non-gaming crowd thanks to the numerous learning titles released on its touch screen, which made playing those games very simple.

Although fans saw a clash here, there was no direct competition. Both consoles were catering to a different crowd, and both crowds were almost satisfied with what they were getting. By the time the Nintendo DS was at the end of its life cycle, it had sold close to 152.02 million units.

As mentioned above, the PSP was no slouch either; it sold a respectable 80.79 million and was no doubt a success.

Enter PS Vita

And that’s why the PlayStation Vita came into existence. This was everything fans of the PSP wanted its successor to be. Having two analog sticks, a much more powerful processor, more RAM, and a better display, Sony ticked every box here. The PS Vita had two touch displays, one of which was the screen itself, while the other was a laptop-like touchpad on the back of the console. And then there was that glorious OLED display. All this is powered by a very capable ARM processor and 512 MB of RAM.

This console also had a competitor, the Nintendo 3Ds. This was a beefed-up DS with an analog pad called the circle pad, and its main selling point was that one of its two displays was a 3D display capable of showing 3D graphics without the need for special glasses.

However, it was not even half as powerful as the PlayStation Vita. Everyone expected it to flop. Now, something weird happened here: Nintendo initially launched 3Ds for $249.99. In the package, buyers got a charger, a charging cradle, a console, and a 2GB SD card.

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The PS Vita, meanwhile, launched in two versions: a Wi-Fi version launched for $249.99 and a 3G version launched for $299.99. In the package, players got a PS Vita and a charger. The console had no internal memory, and the supported memory card was something Sony had made themselves, which they named the PS Vita memory card. They were priced pretty high. The 4GB was $29.99; the 8GB was $44.99; the 16GB was $69.99; and the 32GB was a whopping $119.99.

This was too much, as these were required on account of the console not having any internal memory. And 4GB was not enough either; it was too small.

Both of these consoles saw a very low sales number due to different reasons. Nintendo decided to cut the price of 3Ds to $169.99. After a while, the PS Vita too got a price cut to $199.99.

This time, though, 3Ds was becoming an all-rounder; it had some hardcore games too. Like Street Fighter, Tekken, and Need for Speed. While PS Vita once again got much better mainstream support, most of those games were not very good. For example, Call of Duty Declassified on the PS Vita was a game that was panned by critics and gamers alike, but it got some excellent games such as Uncharted Golden Abyss, Metal Gear Collection, Killzone Mercenary, and Persona 4 Golden. But mostly, it was going downhill.

Many claimed that Sony saw the PS Vita’s failure coming and decided to let it die. They discontinued the console in 2019. While Nintendo discontinued the 3DSin 2020. By the end of their life cycles, they sold around 16 million and 75.95 million, respectively.

Would Sony ever release a new PlayStation Portable successor? If they do, can it compete with the Nintendo Switch?

Just when everyone thought Sony was done with portable consoles, it decided to reveal the PlayStation Portal. Of course, it’s not a mainstream portable console; technically, it’s an accessory. However, it shows that Sony is still interested in this market. And it makes sense.

The Nintendo Switch, launched in 2017, is not even seven years old. The console crossed the 129 million mark back in August 2023. And it’s still going strong; it shows the willingness of a gamer to take their games with them on the go.

This device even led to the inception of portable PCs such as Steam Deck, ROG Ally, etc. These are not directly competing with Switch due to their target audience being not exactly the same. One targets a console gamer who wants to switch on his or her console and start playing. Others are going for the kind of gamer who likes to experiment, emulate, and such.

And so, if Sony decides to bring a new PlayStation portable console to the market, it would be in direct response to the Switch. But whether it will compete with Switch or Switch 2 depends on one thing. How much would Sony focus on that console? Because Sony’s focus is currently on the PlayStation 5. They have a record of abandoning their portables if they see that the console’s performance fluctuate. Meanwhile, Nintendo has nothing else. It has combined its portable and home consoles very successfully.

However, Sony would never do such a thing; it excels in its claims of 4K 60, and those expensive triple-A games are its pride and bread and butter too. It would be very hard to leave those behind. Meanwhile, Nintendo has always had a gameplay first story later approach, which is why its fans never care for graphics, and that’s why it’s an underpowered console. The Nintendo Switch beats the PlayStation 4’s lifetime sales of 117.2 million units even though Switch launched four years after the PlayStation 4.

This kind of success can be hard to match. This kind of success needs complete focus, and Sony is more about giving players an option to play their games across different generation consoles, not take their whole system on the go. And so, the answer to the question of a new handheld meeting or crossing PSP’s milestone is very straightforward. No, it cannot, because Sony’s focus has shifted. It’s more about streaming than handheld consoles now. That’s why fans are getting a PlayStation portal and not Playstation Vita 2 or a true PSP successor.

Still, here’s hoping Sony ends up surprising the naysayers and gamers with a new portable coming very soon.

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