Project Q – the shape of things to come? (Picture: YouTube)
A reader suggests that Sony look to Nintendo and Steam Deck when it comes to inspiration for the PS6 and the rise of game streaming.
Since we’re starting to get rumours about the PlayStation 6 already, I started to try and think about what it could be, that would make an impact and add some new competition for a resurgent Xbox. Microsoft wants to get to the point where streaming is dominant but I’m not sure we’re going to be there in five or so years, which leaves Sony with some interesting decisions to make.
It probably won’t be until the next-next generation when streaming is standard for everything and so I’m sure there will still be traditional, physical consoles for a while yet. Normally you’d expect these to be boring black slabs of plastic or… whatever the PlayStation 5 is meant to be, but I’ve got a better idea: make the PlayStation 6 a hybrid console like the Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck.
I’m really surprised neither Microsoft or Sony has tried to copy anything about the Switch yet, considering how massively successful it’s been, but I think that kind of design makes a lot of sense for Sony in terms of getting ready for the streaming future.
It makes a lot of sense for Nintendo too, which is why I’m certain the Switch 2 will still be a hybrid, especially as they’ve experimented a bit with streaming already. Sony has too but only in terms of the software. Project Q is presumably aimed at being a streaming device as well, although I don’t think they’ve actually said as much.
Nobody’s going to buy a Project Q though, let’s be real. The thing has been a laughing stock from the first moment it was even rumoured and they haven’t announced the no-doubt-ridiculous asking price yet.
However, a hybrid form for the PlayStation 6 (or even the PlayStation 5, if they were sensible enough to ditch the PS5 Pro in favour of that kind of hardware refresh) would make a lot of sense. You’d have all the portability and convenience of the Switch but with PlayStation games and graphics.
Then, as streaming comes online, you’d have the perfect handheld console to play games on. It would be a hybrid in more ways than one. Because, let’s fact it, streaming is going to be all about being portable. There’s very little point in streaming if you’re going to be sat as home as usual. Apart from download times there’s really nothing to gain.
The convenience of streaming though, playing it on the train or in the car or whatever is going to be great and I’m sure will become as ubiquitous as watching people catch up with their TV on the commute home.
The problem is that games, especially PlayStation style games, require complex controls and touchscreen is going to be horrible for that. So if the PlayStation 6 is a hybrid device that has proper controls as standard, that’s going to be a huge benefit.
It’s be a hybrid in more ways than the Switch is, because you could play it both natively and by streaming. And then when the generation after goes streaming-only people are already used to playing and buying PlayStation handhelds.
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The obvious problem is that it’s going to be hard to pack in a console as powerful as that into a portable, but I’m not sure Sony was even trying when it came to the PlayStation 5. The Steam Deck is plenty powerful and it seems to be doing fine.
Plus, I wouldn’t care if the next generation wasn’t that big a graphical improvement. It barely was this gen, so if the improvements are in the console design instead that sounds good to me.
If PlayStation, or Xbox, doesn’t do this then I think Nintendo is going to run away with the generation again. A Switch that’s as powerful as a PlayStation 4, with a bunch of who knows what new features? That is a console war ending threat right there, but Sony has the means to fight it if they dare.
By reader Alanguise
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A reader suggests that Sony look to Nintendo and Steam Deck when it comes to inspiration for the PS6 and to combat the rise of game streaming.