Timestamped in the video.
This is very interesting to say the least. For a little while, I've been saying Sony needs a mobile option in their gaming hardware ecosystem. At first I thought simply a new portable with PS4-level performance, intended as a portable PS4 with streaming capabilities for PS5 games (and maybe native ports of non-demanding PS5 games) would be the way to go. They could price it for profit, it would give smaller Japanese devs in particular something to turn to aside from just the aging Switch hardware, and those games would be 100% playable on PS4 and PS5 consoles natively to boot.
But with the advent of some of Sony's mobile game announcements & acquisitions, I've had a change of thought. By now, the original Xperia Play is ancient, but in theory it was a good idea. Basically a PSP and smartphone rolled into one. Unfortunately, the execution left some things to be desired, and the long-term commitment wasn't there. But it was maybe also a concept ahead of its time, all things considered.
The form factor is still very slick and preferable to the monstrosity side attachments we're seeing in mobile now (or the hilarious docking of the phone to an actual controller). Since phones have moved to purely touch-based controls now, Sony could design a new Xperia Play phone with a physical button layout better mimicking a controller. Fuller-sized face buttons, a d-pad and two thumbpads for analog control. Which are all things the original had TBH; however for this instance I'd suggest they swap the location of one of the analog sticks and the d-pad.
Only tricky part would be replicating the shoulder buttons, but that shouldn't be difficult at all. Also I think it would be neat if they added in the DualSense haptic feedback features, if it's something that could be used for streaming PS5 games via the cloud. There are enough low-end RDNA2 designs that can facilitate PS4-level native performance, all that would be left is to get the right amount and speed of RAM, some decent storage, a high-quality screen and you basically have a PS4 in a smartphone.
Of course, thermals would be an issue potentially, but I think the right process node and getting the right quality of RAM, NAND/eMMC storage etc. that's light on power usage all goes a long way, and RDNA2 in itself is very power efficient. Just comes down to engineering and Sony's phones are some of the best in that regard. I don't think such a phone would be cheap, but there is a market for high-performance phones plus they can partner with any number of mobile carriers to provide the phone to clients in data plan contracts, how do you think most people have these other high-end phones? Majority aren't buying them upfront; they're subsidized as part of a mobile plan with a carrier like Sprint, T-Mobile whoever.
A new Xperia Play could also be the premium device for Sony's ongoing and future mobile games; not that those games would be exclusive to the device, that makes no sense. But in that if you want guaranteed best performance, it's likely going to be on this type of phone. It would be easy to tie PS+ integration between the phone and PS consoles as well, either as an app or built into the OS (though the latter I guess would depend on the OS and they would have to use some customized version of Android if possible).
Anyway, I'm looking forward to what gets announced here. It may not be a PS Showcase (hopefully there's still one to come this month, or between now and December) but a new Xperia Play phone could do a lot for the brand in certain markets. Plus maybe they'll have different versions with various performance profiles, that are priced accordingly.
How many of you are looking forward to a new Xperia Play gaming phone and if so, what features do you think it would need to be appealing to you?
