SONY IS NOT READY TO GIVE UP ON PORTABLE GAMING

According to John Kodera, Sony's head of gaming division, said that Sony is testing mobile gaming efforts, which he believes should be part of PlayStation's overall strategy.

"Rather than separating portable gaming from consoles, it's necessary to continue thinking of [portable gaming] as one method to deliver more gaming experiences and exploring what our customers want from portable," Kodera said on Wednesday.

The first part of Kodera's statement suggests that mobile gaming will be related, in some way, to the next PlayStation console (probably the PS5). Whether that portends a Nintendo Switch-style hybrid, a controller that has portable features, or something else entirely, is far from certain.

After Nintendo Switch showed that portable devices could still deliver household console-quality experiences, gamers will most probably expect a lot more out of handheld consoles in the future. The mobile strategy, as we all know it, is still messy, and Sony will have to work hard to haul it back on track.

Kodera is more interested in uniting mobile gaming with consoles, rather than creating an entirely new separate handheld console based on what Sony knows. Sony’s mobile gaming efforts haven’t been going particularly well and its strategy in this area isn’t especially clear. But hitching a mobile element to the PlayStation console’s star could be a profitable and successful move for Sony.

What kind of handheld elements it will incorporate remains to be seen but it seems that Sony has something up its sleeve. We'll have to wait and see.