The handheld is just an alternate model of ps6, weaker, but it doesn't need to output at the same resolution, not a completely separate product line, and according to all leaks, was planned to launch a year or more AFTER the base ps6 model.
It is a completely separate product line, in every sense of the word.
Rumours out today are saying the PS6 will be 28/29. I can see the handheld coming before the console because Sony are getting decimated by S2, especially in Japan.
January sales figures were released (not confirmed just early leaks) and the global gaming industry is on a down turn and the PS5 is losing major ground to S2. Sony need a new product out but a full console is too much cost at the moment.
Perhaps handheld RAM is cheaper than console RAM, especially if Sony can bulk buy an 'off-the-shelf' part and tweak it.
The other consideration is Mark Cerny. He's almost retired and said the PS6 will be his last console. Will he hang about for another year or two?
They'll try, yes, but it needs initial record-shattering sales to get an installed player base big enough to keep it alive with "micro"transactions compared to GTA5's.
With the delay, they're up to about $2.5 billion in costs. If they sell GTA6 at $70, they need to sell roughly 36 million units to break even.
GTA5 has 100,000 current daily users on PC alone. Combined with console, they generate $1 billion a year.
If all of the players playing GTA5 now are part of the 36million people who buy GTA6, then R* has lost $1 billion a year in revenue. R* then have to sell 50 million units to break even, not including the money they kick to Sony.
There are, at best, 100 million Xbox/PS5's in the wild. R* need a 50% adoption rate as soon as possible just to break even. Not impossible, but a big ask.
If the game is boring, bland, offensive, inoffensive, isn't ground breaking or fails to catch on, or dies in a short time like RDR2...call time on the AAA industry.
