Launching a new game system rough business and it involves a lot of time, energy, and money. As a result, when a console publisher develops a new system, they spend a lot in investments—this leads a trend of losses in that sector until the returns catch up with the production costs. Right now, Sony is gearing up to produce and release their newest handheld gaming system, currently called the Next Generation Portable, or NGP.

Sony’s CFO, Masaru Kato, has gone on record saying that his corporation is looking into alternate methods for developing and producing the NGP that should moderate costs usually connected to such a launch.

According to an article running in The Wall Street Journal, while we don’t yet even have a launch date for this device, commentary is already being floated about how they’re going to manage this new strategy,

Historically, new PlayStation systems have required big investments to develop and make new semiconductors for the device. But Chief Financial Officer Masaru Kato said in an interview that Sony has a strategy to ease capital expenditures for its new hand-held console, the PlayStation Portable—tentatively called the Next Generation Portable, or NGP.

For example, Sony could use chip foundries—chip-making outsourcing companies—thus eliminating the cost of Sony building its own semiconductor factory. It could also buy readily available parts, or turn to contract manufacturers to reduce the up-front investment needed for the product.

Since showcasing the NGP at a media event this year, Sony has remained mum about the device. It has yet to disclose its price or exact launch date. The size of the investment that goes into the product will be a major factor in determining its price.

The earthquake that struck Japan in March prompted the announcement of a delay in the release of the NGP as Sony was forced to shut down several of their northern factories for repair. With less of industrial base to work from, and further disruption caused by the resulting tsunami, they may have already been looking for ways to offload manufacturing needs to other facilities. Offloading costs as well by going with prefab components rather than developing and minting them in house would bolster their weakened bottom line.

Sony wasn’t the only consumer technology corporation to take a devastating blow in the earthquake and tsunami, but that doesn’t mean that the rest of the world will hold their breath when other video game consoles are coming to market and Sony falls behind.

Another thorn in Sony’s side happens to be the general distrust in the PlayStation Network after numerous security breaches exposed sensitive customer data and potentially credit card information. A new product line, especially in the mobile/handheld market, might just be the shot in the arm the company needs to get back into the good graces of its customers.

For some time now, the NGP has been hotly anticipated and debated as the next generation of handhelds.

However, looking at the position of smartphones when it comes to delivering both power and video game capability, Sony might be better off it they developed a device that acted as a handheld console but doubled as a smartphone. An excellent example of this from the smartphone-to-handheld variety happens to be the Xperia PLAY, recently revealed by Sony Ericsson.