Tom Henderson: EXCLUSIVE – Sony’s Next PlayStation Handheld

Codenamed the Q Lite, the next PlayStation handheld is the next piece of Sony hardware that aims to be yet another piece of hardware that requires the PlayStation 5. Insider Gaming understands that the Q Lite is not a cloud-streaming device, but instead uses Remote Play with the PlayStation 5

I’m a huge Steam Deck fan, but I’m actually kinda bummed by this rumor. They’re talking about this as if it will be an accessory to the PS5, only useful for remote play. Remote play is a very cool idea, and playing on my iPad or Mac while the TV is in use is great, my experience has always been pretty bad.

Maybe there’s a chance this can have proprietary tech similar to the Wii U that will let it have ultra-low latency, but I’m pretty sure that would require something built into the PS5, which I doubt is there. Maybe there’s a way to do it via a dongle, but I’m not really sure.

Anyway, I think a lot of the magic of the Steam Deck is that it lets me play great games with the same reliability and responsiveness I’d expect from any other game I can play on a console or PC. I love that streaming exists, and I know it works for some folks, but color me skeptical if I can’t install games on this thing directly.