Twenty-five years ago, few gadgets were on as many Christmas lists as Nintendo’s Game Boy Colour.
The iconic handheld, released in November 1998 and home to classics like Pokemon, Super Mario Land, and Tetris, was wrapped up under the tree in living rooms up and down the country.
With almost 120 million units sold, the Game Boy is one of the most successful games consoles ever made.
It still inspires new products to this day, with the retro Super Pocket – loaded with 90s classics like Street Fighter and Ghouls ‘n Ghosts – among the stocking-fillers vying for attention this festive season.
Image: Nintendo’s Game Boy brand was still going strong with the Advance model in 2001
Not so long ago, though, portable gaming devices looked to be yesterday’s news.
The rise of the smartphone and games like Candy Crush usurped the once popular Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable for many, while dedicated fans gravitated towards the power of consoles and PCs.
But as Christmas beckons again, the handheld market has arguably never been healthier.
Image: Games like Brain Training and Nintendogs helped make Nintendo’s DS aother huge hit
Nintendo’s trend-setter
Despite being almost seven years since it launched, Nintendo’s Switch keeps selling.
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It sailed past 130 million units sold last month, helped by being the exclusive home of two of 2023’s most critically acclaimed games in Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom and Super Mario Wonder.
Image: The Switch has kept on selling since 2017…
Image: …helped by games like Super Mario Wonder. Pic: Nintendo
Its hybrid nature, one which allows players to use it as a portable or hook it up to their TV, was novel in 2017 but has become trendy. Its success inspired Valve, which runs the industry’s most popular store for buying PC games, to release the Steam Deck last year.
Like the Switch, games once reserved for consoles or computers can now be taken on the go. The Deck means the year’s most critically acclaimed title, Baldur’s Gate 3, can be a portable game.
With Christmas shopping under way, the company released a fresh model. Starting at £469, the Deck OLED has a better screen, battery life and lighter build.
That couldn’t be further from the truth now. The modern handheld craze goes beyond the Switch and Deck, encompassing rivals like the Asus ROG Ally (£499) and Lenovo Legion Go (£699).
Admittedly, they do all rather stretch the definition of “handheld”. With its beefy dimensions and 7.4-inch display, the Deck OLED dwarfs the Switch – let alone the Game Boys of yesteryear, when portable meant pocketable.
But Yang thinks we’re at the “start of a new gaming handheld category”, blurring the line between those that stay in your living room and ones that come with you.
Just as bigger phones got people comfortable watching films on the train, the Deck could normalise playing blockbusters on a flight.
Image: The Game Boy-style Super Pocket is dwarfed by the Nintendo Switch and even heftier Steam Deck OLED
Removing the compromises
Games industry expert John Ozimek says devices like the Deck have “removed the compromises” people came to associate with portable and phone games, like simple graphics or being stuffed with adverts.
Canadian developer Nine Dots is in the process of bringing its hit adventure game Outward to the Switch, meeting players’ growing desire to play any game they want on the go.
Creative director Guillaume Boucher-Vidal believes in as little “friction” as possible to meet their needs.
He was an early backer of Google’s dead Stadia gaming service, a Netflix-style service that streamed games over the internet, and still thinks there’s a “bright future” for cloud gaming.
Image: Google Stadia died – but cloud gaming lives on
Great expectations
Console makers Sony and Microsoft are certainly taking notice.
Like Valve, Sony has a new gadget on shelves for Christmas with the £200 PlayStation Portal. It lets PS5 players stream their games from the console to the handheld.
Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass, the closest thing gaming really has to Netflix, is more accessible than ever. It lets subscribers stream a growing library of games on phones, tablets, and consoles.
Steve Cottam runs a similar service, but for classic games. Dubbed Antstream, it makes more than 1,400 retro titles available across iOS, Android, PC, Mac, and Xbox.
“People expect that accessibility with movies, music,” he says. “The idea we treat games differently is a fallacy.
“If I’m at the airport and can keep playing the games I’ve been playing at home, that’s hugely appealing.”
Image: The PS Portal requires strong Wi-Fi and a PS5 to work, but could feasibly let you play Spider-Man on the loo. Pic: Sony
There are no such trips in my immediate future, but the convenience does appeal.
I’m not saying I would play Baldur’s Gate 3 on the loo, but it’s pretty cool that I can.
Donald Trump says he will delay the imposition of 50% tariffs on goods entering the United States from the European Union until July, as the two sides attempt to negotiate a trade deal.
It comes after the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said in a post on social media site X that she had spoken to Mr Trump and expressed that they needed until 9 July to “reach a good deal”.
But Mr Trump has now said that date has been put back to 9 July to allow more time for negotiations with the 27-member bloc, with the phone call appearing to smooth over tensions for now at least.
Speaking on Sunday before boarding Air Force One for Washington DC, Mr Trump told reporters that he had spoken to Ms Von der Leyen and she “wants to get down to serious negotiations” and she vowed to “rapidly get together and see if we can work something out”.
The US president, in comments on his Truth Social platform, had reignited fears last Friday of a trade war between the two powers when he said talks were “going nowhere” and the bloc was “very difficult to deal with”.
Mr Trump told the media in Morristown, New Jersey, on Sunday that Ms Von der Leyen “just called me… and she asked for an extension in the June 1st date. And she said she wants to get down to serious negotiation”.
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“We had a very nice call and I agreed to move it. I believe July 9th would be the date. That was the date she requested. She said we will rapidly get together and see if we can work something out,” the US president added.
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12 May: US and China reach agreement on tariffs
Much of his most incendiary rhetoric on trade has been directed at Brussels, though, even going as far as to claim the EU was created to rip the US off.
Responding to his 50% tariff threat, EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said: “EU-US trade is unmatched and must be guided by mutual respect, not threats.
A backer of Gail’s bakeries is in advanced talks to acquire Flat Iron, one of Britain’s fastest-growing steak restaurant chains.
Sky News has learnt that McWin Capital Partners, which specialises in investments across the “food ecosystem”, has teamed up with TriSpan, another private equity investor, to buy a large stake in Flat Iron.
Restaurant industry sources said McWin would probably take the largest economic interest in Flat Iron if the deal completes.
They added that the two buyers were in exclusive discussions, with a deal possible in approximately a month’s time.
The valuation attached to Flat Iron was unclear on Sunday.
Flat Iron launched in 2012 in London’s Shoreditch and now has roughly 20 sites open.
The chain is solidly profitable, with its latest accounts showing underlying profits of £5.7m in the year to the end of August.
It already has private equity backing in the form of Piper, a leading investor in consumer brands, which injected £10m into the business in 2017.
Flat Iron was founded by Charlie Carroll, who retains an interest in it, but the company is now run by former Byron restaurant boss Tom Byng.
Houlihan Lokey, the investment bank, has been advising Flat Iron on the process.
McWin has reportedly been in talks to take full control of Gail’s while TriSpan’s portfolio has included restaurant operators such as the Vietnamese chain Pho and Rosa’s, a Thai food chain.
The owners of the AA, Britain’s biggest breakdown recovery service, are lining up bankers to steer a path towards a sale or stock market listing next year which could value the company at well over £4bn.
Sky News has learnt that JP Morgan and Rothschild are in pole position to be appointed to conduct a review of the AA’s strategic options following a recovery in its financial and operating performance.
The AA, which has more than 16 million customers, including 3.3 million individual members, is jointly owned by three private equity firms: Towerbrook Capital Partners, Warburg Pincus and Stonepeak.
Insiders said this weekend that any form of corporate transaction involving the AA was not imminent or likely to take place for at least 12 months.
They added that there was no fixed timetable and that a deal might not take place until after 2026.
Nevertheless, the impending appointment of advisers underlines the renewed confidence its shareholders now have in its prospects, with the business having recorded four consecutive years of customer, revenue and earnings growth.
A strategic review of the AA’s options is likely to encompass an outright sale, listing on the public markets or the disposal of a further minority stake.
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Stonepeak invested £450m into the company in a combination of common and preferred equity, in a transaction which completed in July last year.
That deal was undertaken at an enterprise valuation – comprising the AA’s equity and debt – of approximately £4bn, the shareholders said at the time.
Given the company’s growth and the valuation at which Stonepeak invested, any future transaction would be unlikely to take place with a price of less than £4.5bn, according to bankers.
The AA, which has a large insurance division as well as its roadside recovery operations, remains weighed down by a substantial – albeit declining – debt burden.
Its most recent set of financial results disclosed that it had £1.9bn of net debt, which it is gradually paying down as profitability improves.
AA owners over the years
The company has been through a succession of owners during the last 25 years.
In 1999, it was bought by Centrica, the owner of British Gas, for £1.1bn.
It was then sold five years later to CVC Capital Partners and Permira, two buyout firms, for £1.75bn, and sat under the corporate umbrella Acromas alongside Saga for a decade.
The AA listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2014, but its shares endured a miserable run, being taken private nearly seven years later at little more than 15% of its value on flotation.
Under the ownership of Towerbrook and Warburg Pincus, the company embarked on a long-term transformation plan, recruiting a new leadership team in the form of chairman Rick Haythornthwaite – who also chairs NatWest Group – and chief executive Jakob Pfaudler.
For many years, the AA styled itself as “Britain’s fourth emergency service”, competing with fierce rival the RAC for market share in the breakdown recovery sector.
Founded in 1905 by a quartet of driving enthusiasts, the AA passed 100,000 members in 1934, before reaching the one million mark in 1950.
Last year, it attended 3.5 million breakdowns on Britain’s roads, with 2,700 patrols wearing its uniform.
The company also operates the largest driving school business in the UK under the AA and BSM brands.
In the past, it has explored a sale of its insurance arm, which also has millions of customers, at various points but is not actively doing so now.
By recruiting a third major shareholder last, the AA mirrored a deal struck in 2021 by the RAC.
The RAC’s then owners – CVC Capital Partners and the Singaporean state fund GIC – brought the technology-focused private equity firm, Silver Lake, in as another major investor.
A spokesman for the AA declined to comment on Saturday.