PS Vita 2: Price rumors, release date speculation, possible games and more

Is the PS Vita 2 real? Plausible. The PS Vita developed a rather cult following in the years leading to its eventual demise due to neglect and stiff competition. A product before its time that no one wanted to invest in. But with the success of the Nintendo Switch, and handheld PC gaming devices running around with “pick-me” energy, there have been some rumors floating about. That's right, PS Vita 2 is on the wind — or a load of BS.

Fans of the original PS Vita might want to scream in joy, but what does a new PS Vita even mean during the height of handheld gaming? Its competition is tougher than ever, but PlayStation does have the advantage of now knowing what works and what doesn’t. Hopefully, the company can keep up and stand out.

Let’s get one thing clear — the real juice of these rumors simply references that PlayStation is working on a handheld device. Everyone is jumping on the “PS Vita 2” train because that’s the most sensible name to call it. Just keep that in mind going forward.

Here’s everything that we know so far about PS Vita 2, from the release date and price to the games and more.

PS Vita 2 price and release date

The leak comes from YouTube channel Moore's Law is Dead. We’ll go more into what they had to say below, but they claim that a new PlayStation handheld is in the early stages of development and that it’ll launch around the same time as the PS6. For folks doing the math at home, the PS3, PS4, and PS5 launched within 7 years of each other. That puts the PS6 at a 2027 release window. And that puts the potential PS Vita 2’s launch in 2027.

There’s been no word about the price of the PS Vita 2 in the leak, but let’s do some speculation. The original PS Vita launched at $249. The very recent PlayStation Portal launched at $200. The Nintendo Switch launched at $300, and the OLED model ramped it up to $350. Adding a graphics chip and maintaining the same level of quality that a PlayStation portal has is likely going to land the PS Vita 2 somewhere between $300 to $350. I doubt it will land over $400 because that’d be encroaching on the PS5’s price range (maybe even that of the PS6).

PS Vita 2 specs

The bulk of the leak talks about the “custom AMD APU” that this new PlayStation handheld might have, which is reportedly in the “High-Level Design Phase” and at least 2 years out. The leaker claims developers told them that the APU will use 18 Compute Units, which would offer backwards compatibility with PS4 games. It could even run PS5 games with a “Pro-like Patch,” but apparently that’ll come down to dev participation.

The leaker blurs the lines between what has been confirmed to them and what they are speculating about — neither of which we can confirm as true. It’s even more unclear whether this “PS Vita 2” will launch in the PS6 or PS5 era due to how the APU is being referenced. The only thing the YouTube channel Moore's Law is Dead seems certain about is that the PlayStation handheld is in early development. Take that for what you will.

PS Vita 2 games

Assuming that the aforementioned leaker is correct, this PS Vita 2 (or whatever it’s called) might have a whole library at its disposal when it launches. If the APU is designed for PS4 and PS5 games, that means it’s likely you’ll be able to play everything on your new PS Vita 2. That’s the ideal world, anyway. However, if the APU isn’t cutting it, it’s going to take work from developers to tone down graphics settings for the PlayStation-ported games.

It’s unclear if this PlayStation handheld is meant to be an extension of the PS ecosystem or a unique device. Are we going to get exclusive games for the PS Vita 2 or will the games be interchangeable between console and handheld? We hope it’s the latter, although I imagine some games might be designed with the PS Vita 2 specifically in mind. For example, the beloved “Gravity Rush” originally launched for PS Vita before eventually making its way onto PS4. Even the PlayStation Portable gave us “Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker,” which has been in my top 3 video games of all time for over a decade.

Outlook

It seems convincing that there’s a new PlayStation handheld in development by Sony, especially with how much money the handheld gaming market is making right now. But everything else seems pretty up in the air.

Who knows if it’ll even make it past the testing stages? And if the product ever releases, will it compete with the handhelds at that time? The Nintendo Switch 2 is on the horizon, so whatever this PS Vita 2 is, it’s going to have stronger competition than what’s available now. Let’s hope PlayStation has planned for that.

For more news, rumors, and updates on everything PS Vita 2 related, and all things tech, follow Laptop Mag on Twitter, Facebook, and Flipboard for the latest word as it arrives.