Sony has officially confirmed that it’s working on a PlayStation handheld to make playing your PS5 games easier. It was announced during Wednesday’s PlayStation Showcase and is called Project Q.
“We are launching a special device that will allow you to stream any game from your PS5 console using Remote Play over Wi-Fi,” said PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan at the PlayStation Showcase. “Known internally as ‘Project Q’, it has an 8-inch HD screen and all the buttons and features of the DualSense wireless controller.”
More specifically, it will have an LCD screen capable of running games at up to 1080p and 60fps over Wi-Fi, according to a Sony press release, and will feature both the DualSense’s adaptive triggers and haptic feedback. The Q handheld will launch later this year, although Sony hasn’t said exactly when or how much the new device could cost.
According to the fine print at the bottom of Sony’s presentation, games you play on the Q must be installed on a PlayStation 5 console itself – it’s apparently designed as a companion to your own PS5, not something that would play games natively like a Steam Deck or even call or stream them from the cloud.
Sony’s brief tease didn’t address whether you could use the Q to stream games outside your home: Sony’s Remote Play currently supports cellular connections, though you might need to tether it to a phone or hotspot, as Sony has only called Wi-Fi.
Rumors of the handheld first surfaced earlier this year thanks to a report from Insider gaming. That report nailed a lot about the device, including that it relies on Remote Play and wouldn’t be a cloud gaming device, the 8-inch LCD screen, the DualSense match, and the maximum resolution and frame rate. The report also said the handheld was codenamed Q Lite – I’d say the Project Q name is close enough.
With Project Q, Sony seems to be responding to the increased popularity of handhelds with its own offering. The Nintendo Switch has been an absolute hit, of course, but with newer entrants like Valve’s Steam Deck and Asus’ ROG Ally, we’re seeing lots of ways to play more modern games on newer hardware than the aging Switch. In a classic Sony move, Project Q has its own quirk in that it can only stream games over Wi-Fi, but if you’re looking for a Sony-made way to play the latest PlayStation games on a handheld, you might want put some money aside for Project Q.
