Ever since the Nintendo Switch changed up the gaming landscape with a hybrid console/handheld in 2017, companies have tried to cash in on the hype. Valve does it, Lenovo does it, and now it seems like PlayStation is doing it (that doesn’t count). That’s not exactly news. Reports of a proper PlayStation handheld have floated about for the past couple of years, but a new leak gives us a peek behind the curtain as Sony preps the device.
PlayStation Sixtch?
The handheld, dubbed Project Canis internally, would be a separate entity from Sony’s PlayStation 6 and is not the PS6 itself. With vastly different specs between the two, it seems Sony will want developers to keep the hardware limitations of its handheld in mind. According to YouTuber Moore’s Law is Dead (MLID), that’s exactly what Sony is doing with the new ‘Power Saver’ mode that recently hit certain games on the PS5.
Additionally, one doc talking about CPU optimizations mentions that there are new Low Power Modes coming eventually, and directly suggests that your games should be runnable on only 8-Threads…it even at one point states: ‘new operation modes may be supported in the future and applications may run in environments with different available CPU configurations’…Sony is definitely preparing a Canis Handheld!
Read More: Sony and AMD tease new hardware for the next PlayStation
MLID’s source reckons that Sony wants these ‘low-power’ updates even more than it wants PS5 Pro updates, which suggests Sony is far more invested in the future of its hardware than any short-term profits it might gain by upgrading Ghost of Yōtei to run more smoothly on the console-maker’s latest bit of kit. That’s all well and good — for Sony. For Sony’s most loyal fans, it’s got to be a punch to the gut — larger than the R19,500 it cost.
While Sony has yet to officially confirm the existence of the PS6 or any handheld consoles, it seems more and more likely that the company has something in the oven. As for when we might see it come to market, we can’t be sure, but judging by the PS5’s release in 2020, a 2027 release isn’t out of the question.
