When I went to look into the sparknotes version of the recent Playstation Showcase, the thing that most caught my eye was Project Q—a handheld device that at a glance looked like the heir apparent to Sony's massively underrated Vita and PSP consoles. It made perfect sense, given the successes of Nintendo and even Valve in the handheld console space, so imagine my disappointment when Project Q turned out to be a mere peripheral for the PS5. This device will come with all the bells and whistles of a regular Dualsense controller combined with an 8-inch screen, allowing you to stream games from the PS5 to the handheld via a Wi-Fi connection in your home. Crucially, it won't run any games natively.
Since this isn't a new console and since I have no PS5, my interest in owning one of these doohickeys evaporated instantly. While we should reserve judgment for when Project Q hits shelves, there are a couple of signs that it might not even be totally fit for its intended purposes (such as convenience or using the PS5 whilst the main screen is occupied).
Sony hasn't come out with a handheld console since the Vita flopped in 2011. However, Nintendo's gamble of making the Switch their mainline console for the eighth generation totally changed the game for portables—its trade-off of graphics for maximum convenience worked. The PSP showed how such a concept could be massively successful for Sony, while devices like the Switch and the Steam Deck have opened up the market far further in recent years. With Sony's strong first-party line-up, releasing a handheld console with new games and backwards compatibility would likely do gangbusters.
Project Q loses out on the key handheld advantage of portability too. A handheld console allows the user to take their machine outside—during the dull lethargy of a morning commute or when stuck indoors on a holiday. Given you'll be streaming from your PS5 to this doohickey, you're probably not getting as far. We don't know how good the range is, but even if you could somehow play on Project Q down the street from your PS5 it'll never equal a proper handheld. Moreover, if it's all about streaming games, then playing offline is already out of the question. Having games on a handheld system that can be played regardless of connection is a solid draw, but for Project Q it's just another missed opportunity to add to the pile.
Even if we approach this gizmo on its own terms, the information we have now points to some issues. A recent insider report alleges that Project Q will have 3-4 hours of battery life. I want to emphasize that this is a rumor, but if this is true, then that would clock in lower than the Switch or Steam Deck, which it's worth emphasising actually run their own games. If that's not enough to show a failure in its goals, then the fact that you can already stream PS5 gaming to a phone and play along with a controller puts the nail in the coffin. You're paying what I'll wager will be a pretty penny (current estimates are in the $200-$300 range) for a glorified Wii U gamepad—with a charge that might be slightly worse and a gimmick that's already available on the market.
Remote play has its fans (hell, I'm one of them), but this isn't anything new, whereas fully fledged portability would allow Sony to release awesome spin-offs of their first-party games like he had back in the day with the Vita and PSP (seriously, the PSP had some stone-cold classics). Of course, it would require more investment, but I simply can't see this device shifting units with its limited capabilities.