PS5 Fans Willing to Pay a Pretty Penny for a Steam Deck-Like Portable PlayStation | Push Square
With Sony supposedly working on a next generation handheld PlayStation alongside the main PS6, it's had us pondering what it'd be like. Would fans want something like a Steam Deck equivalent, that accesses your existing PlayStation library? How much cash would people be prepared to splash on one?
Well, we know that, at least from our readership, the majority of fans are very much in favour of a new portable console from Sony. And now, thanks to a recent poll, we have a rough idea of what people would be willing to spend on it.
As it turns out, there's a fair spread of responses. The results of the poll show that 25 per cent would be happy to pay between $300 and $399 for such a device, while a further 24 per cent would go a step further, splurging up to $499.
A smaller contingent, 15 per cent of respondents, would be willing to pay anything up to $599.
It's interesting to compare against similar products. Valve's range of Steam Deck portable PCs vary from £349/$399 up to £569/$649, depending on the model and amount of storage. Asus' ROG Ally line starts at £599/$499 and goes up to £799/$799 for the top model.
These things aren't selling enormous numbers of units, but enthusiasts are clearly willing to pay for the convenience of carrying around their games collections with them wherever they go, and it appears to be the case here too.
While we can't predict where Sony would land on this spectrum — if we assume the rumours about a portable PlayStation are true — we can't imagine it'd be cheap. PS Portal, a handheld that can't run games natively, is £199/$199; a portable device that can run modern software itself will have a much bigger price tag.
Most people who answered our poll landed in the $300 to $499 range, and that feels about right, though it may well fly north of that, depending on how capable the machine is.
All hands on deck
Where do you land on this topic? Tell us in the comments section below.
Stephen has been part of the Push Square team for over six
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