I can't figure out how that makes sense. How could there not still be sigificant demand for a living room console that isn't underpowered from the handheld tradeoffs? As kids keep becoming adults their lifestyle evolves away from regularly taking their console to school and their friends houses.

The current graphics are good enough for the mainstream, and with modern SoCs, especially with AI frame generation and upscaling, can be run in a mobile form factor with low power requirements and still have great graphics. Hell, even my iPhone can run some games that look great, assuming they’re built with the hardware in mind.

Nowadays, a decent GPU (not even high end) is $700 whereas I can get a full console with a 120hz screen and built in controls for $450 (switch 2). That’s the mass market.

Consoles have traditionally been underpowered PCs but are shifting to a new product category. There’s no real downside to the portable form factor besides a lack of processing power; everything else is upside.

I’m here for it, I love handheld gaming.

I am similarly dubious of the idea that TV consoles will be abandoned. Handhelds necessarily require low power. Even the steam deck is considered too heavy for many users, and it struggles to run present generation games at 800p.

Nintendo is in a special situation. They have a successful handheld line established in the Gameboy. Their games tend not to be realistic, instead going for more cartoon-ey or Anime style that can be done with low poly counts and lower resolution textures. Nintendo didn't abandon their home console so much as they merged with with their existing handheld console.

Total agreement here. The handhelds have to make extreme compromises to fit in the power/heat/performance envelope. I would guess that most Steam Deck hours are clocked within someone’s home vs on the go.

I assume the screen on the Deck/Switch is the most expensive component. Are Microsoft+Sony really going to push units where consumers have to pay for a feature they know will go unused? I guess so long as they offer a screen-less “portable” for $$$ off the price.

> As kids keep becoming adults their lifestyle evolves away from regularly taking their console to school and their friends houses.

Yes but adults like myself want to sit in the living room and play on handheld while the wife or kids watch tv. This is what I’ve been doing for years with my Steamdeck and Switch.

I mean current gen consoles are already massively underpowered(in the literal sense) compared to actual PCs - PS5 uses like 120-150W when running, that's laptop terittory(in fact it's half of my gaming laptop). Clearly they could do a lot more with a higher power budget, but are choosing not to because the gains are not worth the increased heat and noise.

And with modern upscaling solutions I think you'd be surprised what can be done in a small package - so in that way a "portable" PS6 that can be used in or outside of the dock makes perfect sense.

>>As kids keep becoming adults their lifestyle evolves away from regularly taking their console to school and their friends houses.

You see, as I got older and got my own kids I lost appetite for playing on the TV or my gaming PC. I'd rather have something portable so I can play next to my wife on the sofa. That's why my Steam Deck is seeing 10x more use than my RTX5090 desktop PC.