The next PlayStation Portable will be able to run games without developers’ involvement.
While the next PlayStation portable is still a way off (a report from Credible Insider Kepler L2 suggests it will be at least a few years away), WCCF Tech has revealed more details about the console. Even though a patch might be necessary for performance, they did say that the speculated portable PS6 can run PS5 titles without developer intervention.
According to NeoGAF forum user Kepler L2, who is infamous for leaking information, the portable system has shader binary compatibility, meaning it should be able to run games from prior generations without any developer assistance.
On the other hand, unpatched games ran very poorly. Along with the regular home version of the PlayStation 6, a portable one is supposedly in the works as well. We already know that, like their two immediate predecessors, the systems will be powered by AMD, but Intel apparently bid to manufacture them. The announcements on the systems have not been made official yet.
The portable version of Sony’s next-gen system allegedly won’t be able to compete with the current-gen PlayStation 5, but it will be more powerful than the Xbox Series S. The rumor mill claims that the system on chip (SoC) will have fewer than 40 compute units and be designed to operate at extremely low voltages. In a relatively short time, Kepler L2 has sent us the third update regarding this portable PlayStation 6 device, which aims to be a portable version of the PlayStation 5.
Assuming this is true, the information we are obtaining here is crucial for the next PlayStation Portable system. One major concern is whether the devs will need to create a whole new game just for this device. He does, however, emphasize that while games will technically run on this handheld without intervention, performance is likely to be subpar, and a patch would be necessary to make games run even better on it.
The general public views it as very different from the game, and you will likely need to develop a new version of it. The PlayStation Vita had this issue: It was a highly capable handheld, and people loved it. However, there wasn’t enough support for it, and developers who wanted to support it probably had to abandon the PS4 as well. This led to a situation where you had to pick and choose because the two systems weren’t cohesive enough.
It sounds like the portable PlayStation 6 system will be the polar opposite, with nearly full compatibility with the PlayStation 6 home console, and that will be the main differentiator. Especially if the portable PlayStation 6 sells well, developers will likely feel pressure to release patches that fix any issues players encounter with their games.
