On Wednesday, Sony announced perhaps its weirdest gadget in a while: Project Q, a handheld device designed solely to play games streamed from your PS5. It’s basically an 8-inch LCD screen with the two halves of a DualSense grafted to the sides, and it will be able to play games from your PS5 at up to 1080p and 60fps over Wi-Fi via Remote Play. It’s supposed to launch later this year.
All our burning Qs about PlayStation’s Project Q
May 25, 2023
All our burning Qs about PlayStation’s Project Q
That’s pretty much all Sony said about the device during its PlayStation Showcase. If you’re anything like The Verge’s newsroom, you might still have a lot of questions, so we wrote some out. (Some are less serious than others.) And let us know your questions in the comments!
- Exactly when will it come out? (Reportedly November, but we’d like the official word.)
- How much will it cost?
- How long is the battery life?
- What processor is in it? Can it run Android?
- Will there be a cellular option? And will it be an AT&T exclusive?
- Do you promise not to use the words “Stream” or “Deck” when you give it a name? Elgato’s already got it bad enough.
- How can you possibly compete with (a $99 gamepad for your phone / a $200 Android handheld / a $400 Steam Deck / literally plugging a DualSense into a laptop) if all this does is stream PS5 games, and all of those can do that and more?
- Why partner with Backbone on two mobile controllers if you’re just gonna make this thing?
- Does it use any special technology to make Remote Play work more smoothly? Perhaps skip the router with Wi-Fi Direct to the PS5?
- Can you play it wired to the PS5 via USB-C for less lag? If you tell me that’s stupid, have you heard of a thing called the PSVR 2?
- How long until someone makes a Vita emulator for it?
- Will it be able to play any cloud games?
- Why is it so ugly?
- Where did the DualSense’s touchpad go? Does it mean that I have to touch the screen instead?
- How did you settle on an 8-inch screen at a time most every other handheld has standardized on a 7-inch screen as the sweet spot?
- Can a developer choose to use the device for second-screen features?
- Does it work as a Sheikah Slate? How about a Purah Pad?
- Can Project Q be used in place of another controller for local multiplayer games?
- What happens if you get stick drift? (Padme meme: you’re going to use Hall effect joysticks, right? Right?)
- Will it have a dock?
- Is there any media playback support? Or support for apps like Twitch and YouTube?
- Is this PlayStation’s Wii U moment?
- Wii U. Wii U. Wii U. Sorry, just enjoy saying that out loud.
- Will it do anything besides stream PS5 games?
- Are you launching PlayStation Amiibos next? Can you make ones for Astro’s Playroom, please?
- Does Q mean Life?
- Does it have a headphone jack?