Opinion: Android-powered Sony PlayStation phone has to happen

Have you heard the rumours? Sony’s developing a PlayStation-branded phone, and it’ll run on Android OS. What a preposterous idea. It’ll never float.

That was my initial reaction to the news.

Sony’s always been reluctant to bring its mobile and PlayStation brands together. The company seems to feel that its premium gaming brand would be compromised by sticking it onto a phone.

There was even the suggestion that the Japanese giant didn’t want its somewhat diluted Sony-Ericsson mobile brand to go anywhere near its pure-bred gaming one.

Mobile gaming has always been looked down on by the wider games industry, after all.

I'm now a convert to the idea of a hybrid phone. Why the change of heart? The overriding reason is really quite simple. There are two sides to the equation – Sony and Google – and both would benefit hugely from a joint-venture gaming device at this point in time.

The Sony of 2010 is not the same untouchable hardware manufacturer as the Sony of 2005.

On the handheld side, the PSP has been a big disappointment. Oh, Sony will babble about 60 million sales and long term plans, but make no mistake – it hasn’t met with initial expectations.

While those sales figures are far from catastrophic, they pale into near-insignificance next to the success of its closest competitor, the DS family, which has sold more than 132 million units worldwide.

With the 3DS around the corner - which promises to best the PSP in every conceivable way - things are only going to get worse for the PSP.

At the same time, its other major console rival (and perhaps the closest to Sony itself in terms of philosophy and target demographic) Microsoft is about to flood the market with a mobile OS that promises to handle games as comfortably as it handles phone calls.

If the rumours suggesting that the PSP 2 is some way away are true, Sony needs a stop-gap device. What’s that? PSP go, you say?

Don’t be mean.

On the mobile side, Sony Ericsson appears to have been left behind somewhat in the modern smartphone age. Sales aren’t what they used to be, and Apple, HTC, Motorola, and Samsung are widely held to be making the best handsets.

Interestingly enough, the company’s one recent mobile success only strengthens the likelihood of a Sony-Android PlayStation phone. The Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini is a very neat little handset, and has just won a couple of awards, including best European mobile phone for 2010-2011. One of its chief attractions is its (much modified) UI running on Android OS.

Google’s Android OS, by contrast, is in a pretty good position within its field. Already competitive with its main rivals, the OS is set to become the number one smartphone platform thanks to its sheer ubiquity. And the fact that it’s a very accomplished mobile OS, of course.

On the gaming front, though, it’s far less competitive. In fact, the games offering on the Android Market is embarrassingly lightweight compared to the App Store. Considering the huge (and unexpected) part games have played in iPhone’s ongoing success, this is clearly a problem that needs addressing.

Android Market needs a serious revamp if it’s to become competitive. In fact, many would argue that it needs ripping up and starting again. That’s one option. The other is to get a true heavyweight games brand in to give things a push in the right direction.

Some might point to the inevitable split in the Android Market such a device would lead to and question its value to the wider Android community.

A split games app market isn’t a catastrophic idea in itself – Windows Phone 7 will feature just such a setup, albeit fully accessible on every WP7 handset. But if Google could just adopt some of the structure of Sony’s contributions, it would no doubt improve the Android Market a great deal.

Like Sony, Google also faces a threat from Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 platform. In fact, it’s even more of an issue here, as the two platforms are competing in exactly the same market, and both will be fighting for the support of handset manufacturers as wells as consumers.

Even before a Windows Phone 7 handset has been released, it’s looking like a dangerously one-sided fight on the gaming front. If Microsoft produces what many believe it's going to – a very competitive and unique mobile OS – Google won’t want to lose significant ground in any one area.

It’s not just a matter of looking at the likelihood of an Android-powered Sony PlayStation phone, or the logic behind it existing. I, for one, really want to see such a device.

Imagine being able to whip out your phone to play Gran Turismo, complete with an accelerometer steering option. Or God of War, or WipEout, or any of the other IP Sony could bring to mobile gaming.

Then consider that the device would be the Holy Grail for many mobile gamers – a mobile phone with decent physical controls. Being able to play beat-‘em-ups, platformers, RPGs, and shooters with dedicated buttons rather than wishy-washy virtual controls or ill-suited thumb-pads would be worth the price of admission alone.

An Android-powered Sony PlayStation phone? At this point in time it seems like the most sane and downright essential decision in the world of pocket gaming.