Sony formally confirmed its new PlayStation handheld final evening and now a recent rumor claims the 8-inch gadget will arrive in November. The declare comes from Tom Henderson, the identical reporter that initially detailed Sony’s Undertaking Q handheld final month.

“At the moment scheduled to launch mid-late November 2023,” mentioned Henderson in a tweet this morning. Sony hasn’t introduced pricing or an actual launch late simply but, solely revealing that the PlayStation handheld will launch “later this yr.”

Sony’s PlayStation handheld, recognized solely as Undertaking Q proper now, will enable PS5 homeowners to stream video games to an 8-inch LCD display screen that features controllers on both facet which can be similar to the DualSense PS5 controller. Video games gained’t run natively on the gadget, that means you’ll must have them put in on a PS5 and have good Wi-Fi connectivity to stream them.

Sony hasn’t talked about whether or not you’ll be capable to use its PlayStation handheld exterior of your own home, however presumably you’ll be capable to use Sony’s Distant Play know-how to entry your PS5 video games on the go.

Sony is clearly responding to the rise in handheld gaming lately. Nintendo’s Swap has dominated fashionable handheld consoles and Valve’s Steam Deck has proven what is feasible for PC gaming on the go. Whether or not or not the PlayStation handheld is successful will come all the way down to if individuals are keen to spend cash on a tool that’s restricted to simply streaming PS5 video games.

It’s already attainable to stream PS5 video games to PCs, Macs, and iOS and Android gadgets, so there are definitely questions round who precisely this gadget is for. The adaptive triggers are a pleasant contact, however it definitely appears like you can get the remainder with many current cellular gadgets and controller choices.

Sony could properly lengthen this PlayStation handheld to cloud streaming given current job listings that trace at a brand new cloud gaming push, which will surely make sense after PlayStation chief Jim Ryan teased “fairly aggressive plans” for cloud gaming earlier this week. However even with cloud streaming choices there’s nonetheless an enormous query mark over whether or not PS5 homeowners will desire a PlayStation handheld that may’t play video games with out an web connection.

Logitech has tried one thing comparable at a hefty price ticket, so Sony’s success could properly come down as to if it’s able to stream PlayStation video games over the cloud and the worth of this PlayStation handheld. Some individuals (together with Verge managing editor Alex Cranz) argue a cellphone is horrible for cloud gaming and need devoted gadgets, so we’ll see how the market responds.

Sony says we’ll get extra particulars about Undertaking Q within the coming months.