Sony reveals "Project Q" handheld designed for streaming PS5 games over Wi-Fi

[Tudor Cibean]

What just happened? It turns out recent rumors regarding Sony stepping back into the handheld game were correct. However, unlike the PlayStation Portable and the PlayStation Vita, the upcoming 'Project Q' device will be limited to streaming games rather than rendering them on its own.

At Sony's latest PlayStation Showcase event, the company finally confirmed that it's working on a new handheld. Internally known as 'Project Q,' it will allow users to stream non-VR games from their PlayStation 5 using Remote Play over Wi-Fi.

The Nintendo Switch has quickly become one of the best selling-consoles of all time, while the more-recent Steam Deck and Asus ROG Ally come with potent hardware that can run even the latest PC titles. Sony's Project Q isn't a direct competitor to those devices, but the company is clearly intent on taking a share of the growing handheld market.

Details about the Q's specs are scarce, but Sony's press release does say that it comes with an 8-inch 1080p LCD screen with a 60Hz refresh rate. The short teaser video also mentions that it has all of the buttons and features of the DualSense wireless controller, including adaptive triggers and haptic feedback. That makes sense, considering that it looks just like an elongated DualSense controller with a small tablet slapped in the middle.

Unlike Sony's previous handhelds, the upcoming Project Q won't have any dedicated games. In fact, it won't be able to play games on its own at all, as it's purely a streaming device. Hopefully, the Q will allow users with a PlayStation Plus Premium subscription to stream older-gen games from the cloud as well, allowing it to be more of a standalone device rather than just a PS5 accessory.

Sony hasn't revealed how much the upcoming Project Q handheld will cost or when it will release, but recent leaks have mentioned that it might launch later this year. If you can't wait until then, a Backbone One gamepad coupled with an iPhone or Android device will get you most of the way there.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/98820-sony-reveals-new-handheld-designed-streaming-ps5-games.html

 

[m4a4]

...It just sounds like Sony leadership is out of touch with the rest of gaming. What is the point of this? Is it a 1 trick pony for those with too much money in the Sony walled garden..?

And they already have an app that supports phones and tablets for the streaming route. How does this make more sense?

 

[McKocoa]

I distinctly remember playing the Destiny beta over wifi remote play at another person's house on both my phone and tablet (xperia device exclusive at the time) in 2014 with a bluetooth DS4 controller attached via a slick harness. I thought it would catch on for all mobile devices because it was fairly well implemented for non-competitive gameplay. (too much latency for competitive shooters).
This current Sony project a middling move (everyone and their grandma already has a mobile device, use that!) but I suppose it gives people more ways to consume Sony games and allows Sony to sell hardware. I don't think the Vita fans will immediately jump on board with this.

 

[dangh]

If this will be affordable - less than 150 usd - I'm in. I often would like to play a bit but don't want to go through hassle of going to living room, check who is actually using the tv, and trying to get some screen time. With this device I could do that anyplace and that's really cool.
If they had made actual portable ps5 even with 720p if be much more happy, though. This could be a vita 2 we deserve.

 

[AndreV]

This looks like it should cost 100$ at max.

 

[hwertz]

Price is key -- if it's a good price it could sell quite well. If they try to price it like it's a Steam Deck or something... well, it's not one, it can't play games on it's own. But Sony does have an ego sometimes, so I could see them deciding "Well, you can play PS5 games on there" (overlooking that they aren't playing ON the unit, they're relying on your PS5 to do so) to justify an overly high price.

Edit: and if the price IS decent -- wouldn't it be lovely if someone figured out how to stream other stuff to there? You could have your Linux box stream games to it, stream tv shows and movies to it, etc. And, since it's not trying to run all this GPU and CPU-intensive gaming on the unit, it may even have decent battery life.

 

[Sir Sparkles]

I like the idea of the product. If it's priced well I'll buy it for sure.

 

[Carlos GarPov]

I don't see the point of this! Besides going to the bathroom and then getting back to play at where you were.

Thus is a dead end!

Nintendo learned the lesson really well.

 

[hwertz]

I don't see the point of this! Besides going to the bathroom and then getting back to play at where you were.

Thus is a dead end!

Nintendo learned the lesson really well.

What lesson? The switch plays games hooked up to TV, and allows playing the games portably. I've seen people do both!

Adults will have a "man cave", or just use the living room, if they want to play PS5 they can play PS5 on the TV. Young'uns, the parents might want to use the TV, or might have times where they don't want high-volume gaming on the big screen going on, while fine if they continue playing on the portable device.

Both adult and children, there are times when they might just want to play their game wherever rather than having to take up position in front of the big screen to do so.

I figure it depends on pricing -- if they price this like a fully-capable portable gaming system... it's not one. If they price it appropriately, I could see it being quite popular. *shrug* I don't have a PS5 though, so it's no skin off my back if it fails, has mild success, or is wildly successful.

 

[toooooot]

They are still trying. Oh well, will see how much it will cost. I assume you can play from anywhere as long as your PS is on. It seems functional to some degree, it is just not as convenient as Deck.