The next Playstation console will be portable.

I know it's a little early to be thinking about it and talking about it, hell, there's not even any rumors about it, but I feel like this is a no-brainer for Sony.

So I got to thinking about when the PS5 might come out (I was considering a PS4Pro but didn't want to end up by one like six months before an announcement or whatever) so I got to doing a little research, nothing too deep just looking at the time between consoles, hardware trajectories, etc. But what really caught my eye was something unbelievably simple. The number five. Say "Playstation 5" out loud. It sounds stupid. "PS5". It doesn't roll off the tongue. But you know what does? "PSG/PSGo/Playstation Go." Some of you may already know where I'm going with this but the pronunciation of 5 in Japanese is "Go".

That wouldn't mean much under normal circumstances, however the Nintendo Switch is doing extremely well. People couldn't give two shits about the Wii U but the Switch is setting the gaming world on fire because it's a novel idea that really improves quality of life and I believe this is the next direction Sony will choose to go in. Microsoft isn't innovating, they're trying to brute force their way to the top with power. They have very few exclusives and everything they do is seeming like they're taking another step closer to simply being plug and play PCs. That's fine, more power to them, but while they do that I think Sony will follow the Switch's lead and chase larger markets (Japan for one is way more into handhelds than consoles).

I believe Sony will release the Playstation "Go" in 2019-2020. This gives technology the time to grow and allow PS4 Pro performance out of the machine. When it releases the PS4 Pro will become the cheaper alternative to play the same games for those that would rather only play on the big screen for a cheaper cost. This would probably release against or shortly before the Switch successor/upgrade that would put both consoles on an equal playing field.

Then going forward, somewhere between 2021-2025 would they both release new systems that rival or beat the Xbox One X while also being portable. Meanwhile Microsoft will probably put out a new system every 2-4 years that plays multiplat games at higher fps and/or resolution and continue to be the gateway between the consoles and PCs. Their exclusives will likely be the only games that take full advantage of the greater hardware until Sony and Nintendo both reach that level with their hybrid consoles.