Sony Xperia XZ2 promoted as PS4 Remote Player

The Vita's job (at least if Sony had ever released a HD version) today would be a one-stop solution for portable playing of PS4 games. Instead, Sony fumbled and fudged Vita into non-existence, leaving the wider company promoting the current Xperia phone as a very fudge-flavoured solution.

In semi-related news, Valve/Steam has announced a stream-to-mobile app, something else that a HD Vita would have excelled at! But hey-ho, it's only another missed opportunity as Sony falls behind the connected/hybrid era. For reference, Sony's mobile division is now tiny, with less than 4% market share.

Given Sony's PlayStation division has said no new hardware at E3, perhaps this is it for the foreseeable future until they can sort out a proper PS4 Remote Player. Of course, that leaves European and Japanese events (where Vita did better) for them to show off something new.


If you get a PS4 DualShock, presumably a spare that you don't mind getting roughed up in transit, a phone mount and so on, plus this expensive phone, and great WiFi or mobile coverage. On the plus side, they will throw in 12 months of free PlayStation Plus.

Even here, Sony's marketing fucks up the whole gaming concept spectacularly, with a tiny clip of a racing game in action around the Nurburgring - really, what's the point?  (Yes, there's a longer clip, but it's not much better.)

This is not how you advertise PS4 games to a mobile audience. Most gamers probably have a PS+ sub, and will phone owners really rush out to buy a PS4, if that's the plan? Being God of War on a bus or Tomb Raiding in the museum would look more attractive.