When people talk about the "console wars," they usually think of competition between home consoles, but don't assume the early handheld market lacked any intensity. Looking back now, the mid-2000s showdown between Sony's PSP and Nintendo's DS seems like a clear-cut victory, but that wasn't the case at the time. Former PlayStation head Shawn Layden clearly remembers the impact Sony's entry into the handheld market had on its competitors.
"I remember when we first unveiled the PSP—was it 2003, '04, or '05?" Layden recalled in an interview on The Expansion Pass podcast. "A friend of mine working at Nintendo sent me a text with just one sentence: 'You bastards.' I replied, 'Hey, buddy, it's just a game competition.'"
When the DS launched, Nintendo was the undisputed ruler of the handheld market. Although other portable devices had achieved some success over the years, the cumulative sales of the Game Boy and Game Boy Advance reached hundreds of millions. No other manufacturer had the courage—or perhaps the recklessness—to enter this arena, even though the DS pioneered an unprecedented path with its dual screens and touch interface.
Nintendo ultimately succeeded by using the DS to tap into a broader casual gaming market. By the end of its lifecycle, the DS had sold over 154 million units worldwide. In comparison, the PSP's 76 million units may seem inferior, but this remains the highest sales record for any handheld device outside of Nintendo. However, rampant piracy made it difficult for Sony to profit from PSP game software.
"The PSP performed decently, but the system was eventually cracked, making jailbreaking very easy," Layden admitted. What saved the handheld was "a little game called Monster Hunter"—a title focused on cooperative multiplayer, which prompted players across Japan to buy the console and game to hunt together with friends.
As rumors about a PS6 handheld intensify, Layden also issues a warning: "Sony has always struggled to market two platforms simultaneously. When the PS3 was struggling, the PSP was thriving; later, when the PS Vita showed promise, the PS3 gradually turned things around. Marketing budgets are limited and must be spread across different product lines."
Layden suggests: "If Sony truly wants to return to the handheld market, it should establish an independent company to handle it. Let this company focus solely on handhelds, rather than trying to cover handhelds, home consoles, and game software with a single marketing budget. That would only dilute their efforts."
This may have been true during the PSP and PS Vita era—when handhelds were independent platforms with game libraries completely different from home consoles—but this rule may not hold today. The core selling point of successful products like the Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch is the ability to take the full home console gaming experience on the go. From this perspective, the PSP and PS Vita might have been slightly ahead of their time.
"When we were making the PS Vita, we thought putting a console-level experience into a handheld, allowing players to carry blockbuster titles with them, would be hugely popular," Layden said. "But looking back after the dust settled, I realized that wasn't the case at all. People just wanted a good experience tailored to handhelds; that's what they really wanted. They didn't necessarily want to replicate the console experience."
To be fair, looking at the Steam Deck's popular games list confirms this point. Of course, the list includes Steam-wide hits like The Witcher 3 and Diablo IV, but handheld-friendly titles like The Binding of Isaac and Balatro make up a much larger proportion, far exceeding their share on the main Steam charts.
Layden concluded: "I believe a company needs to clarify its positioning before deciding to build a new platform."