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Will Sony Have the Guts to Challenge Nintendo?

Will Sony Have the Guts to Challenge Nintendo?

If you’re gaming on the go, you pretty much have three options at this point: your mobile phone, something in the Nintendo 3DS family of systems, or a PlayStation Vita. Before that, a similar triangle of choice existed between smartphones, the PSP, and the Nintendo DS. For the rest of this article I’m going to ignore the existence of smartphones because, despite the growing popularity of smartphone apps and games, I still don’t think a touchscreen phone can hold a candle to gaming on an actual, dedicated, handheld device.

With phones out of the picture, we see that Sony and Nintendo have been duking it out in the handheld market since 2004. It hasn’t exactly been a close match. Not by a long shot. Nintendo has absolutely dominated the handheld market since 1989, and even though Sony debuted with more powerful hardware, Nintendo has maintained its dominance to this very day. To date, the 3DS has sold nearly 60 million units, while PS Vita sales are… much lower. In January Sony celebrated the fact that five million Vitas had been sold in Japan.

But today is a new day, and everyone is talking about handhelds now that it’s been (supposedly) revealed that Nintendo’s NX will be a portable handheld device. This is a brilliant move for Nintendo. In console world, the Wii U sold just over 13 million units over its lifetime, while the PS4 recently blazed past the 40 million marker and is still trucking. PS4’s dominance this console generation is due largely to the fact that the public perceived the PS4 to be the most powerful console available. As time wore on, and more multi-platforms games were showing up on the PS4 running more smoothly and at higher frame rates, the gap between Xbox One and PS4 sales became even more one-sided. The Wii U wasn’t even a main contender this generation.

My question to you, dear reader, is this: Should Sony produce a powerful handheld unit to compliment the PS4 Neo and compete directly with Nintendo’s NX? Nintendo absolutely destroyed Sony in the handheld market – twice – but things have changed since then. Now, more than ever, the hardcore gaming population seems just as open as the general public to more casual, mobile titles. Sony’s PlayStation brand is also stronger than ever at this point due to the PS4’s tremendous success, and there’s always a chance that if a Nintendo handheld and a Sony handheld are both seen on a shelf, the average Joe would just assume that Sony’s product is the more powerful product. This is doubly true if that average Joe (or Jane) was in tune with Nintendo’s failure in this generation’s console war.

Will Sony Have the Guts to Challenge Nintendo?

You should also keep in mind that the PS Vita is vastly more powerful than the 3DS, and the PSP outclassed the DS as well. Sony knows how to make a wonderful handheld, it just doesn’t know how to give it legs. The Vita is an incredible machine, and I play mine just as much, if not more, than I play my PS4. If you’ve never seen Uncharted or Tearaway running on a Vita, then chances are you’re underestimating what it’s capable of. Additionally, if I get bored playing Vita games I can always stream any of my PS4 games to the handheld as well, and play them while laying in bed. A next-gen Vita that could connect seamlessly to a PS4 and Neo would be a dream.

On the flip side, it’s much easier to argue against Sony competing again in the handheld market. Proprietary memory made expanding storage an expensive nightmare for the PSP and PS Vita, and Sony just loves to make us pay for proprietary components; we have no reason to believe that they’ve learned their lesson. There’s also a huge negative momentum working against Sony. The PSP did extremely well in Japan and poorly in North America, and then the PS Vita flopped nearly everywhere. If Sony were to produce a third handheld, it better be something really special or else consumer confidence will remain low. Sony also has a ton on its plate right now with maintaining PS4 support, developing and marketing the PS4 Neo, and marketing and supporting PlayStation VR. A handheld is probably the lowest item on its priority list, if it’s on that list at all.

So what do you think? Should Sony compete with Nintendo once again in the handheld market, or is Nintendo getting a free ride to monopolize that space? Nintendo generally procures modest hardware in order to ensure profits, so could Sony capitalize on that fact by producing a more powerful, highly capable handheld of its own? Sound off in the comments below and let us know your thoughts.

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