Major drivers for Windows 10 (GPU, Wifi and bluetooth) have been released by Valve for the Steam Deck, but no audio drivers, yet...

No point GoG releasing an console (handheld or otherwise) when there is already too much competition in that area already...

Sauce

... are you a secret Steam operative trying to bankrupt GOG? :P They've been on a string of unfortunate decisions of their own, there's really no need to "help them out". Most of that market is for actual retro devices, not rehashes. And on top of that many of the people in the scene are tinkerers. They'd much rather build and configure something themselves than go for a console built by a third party. My 2 cents. Perhaps it's a bit foreboding... because here you are, out of here :D.

The real question is 'who would it be for?' The answer is only a small, niche audience that wouldn't be enough to support a console post-launch, something that absolutely needs mainstream reach and appeal to even have a chance at success.

PCs can use controllers as easily as consoles nowadays, so there's no real place for a GOG console outside of a handful of hardcore collectors, what unique selling point would it have? Classic PC games? How many of those even support or would work on a controller? Who's going to do the work to implement controls for games that don't have native controller support?

Then there's the hardware, how powerful would it be? How powerful could it be whilst not selling for a loss? What percentage of the GOG library, realistically, would be compatible? Just how many would want one over say, Steam Deck?

GOG also doesn't have the brand recognition to get by on, or influence many through sheer clout, if they did they'd have a lot more games than they do.

Really, there are a myriad of ways that a GOG console could, and likely would, fail.

That's actually a really good point. Why not build the console around FPGA hardware? That sounds like a winning solution to the neverending emulaton problem, and would certainly provide much greater accuracy for the older PC game library.
If I'm a Steam operative than I've got to be the worst one in the history of operatives since I was actually one of the first users in the forum to suggest that GOG make a handheld to play PC games (back in 2015) and now Steam has one of the most successful PC handhelds to have ever been released in the last 20 years. Sorry, but the idea of a console is actually a good one.

Hmmm were i an engineer i'd have done something the better part of 8 years ago. Specifically getting certain CPU and GPU chips and putting them together as a group in a single PCI slot you could add in. Then with a simple IO you could share a block of memory and run said CPU's and GPU's and get 100% exact emulation via hardware. (And emulators detecting said chips would just patch game data to the chips)

Course this idea would be great for say PS2, PS3, Gamecube, or any other chips that are slower to emulate. Anything under a certain speed or work would be absent (Say under 50Mhz and simple CPU's like the 650x series where having a hardware chip isn't really worth it).

Though fabricating older chips for legacy reasons or just to keep games/software working that was available for consoles would be nice too.

Sure, we can agree to disagree, no need to be sorry :P. Partially disagree, in fact. Because you're right, the idea of a (portable) console is a good one. It's just that GOG is not the proper party to get one going and properly support it. You only have to look at Galaxy if you have any doubts... remember when they promised Linux support would eventually be a thing? Is it, I ask... even several years later?

P.S.: The "Steam operative" part was obviously a joke :P.

You misunderstand me, this is not about a controller at all, and as I stated it would be a hybrid PC/Console, and a controller should just be an option for those games that support it.

GOG already have a small market share compared to Steam and Epic etc, and at the end of the day it is all about your target audience. So sure, some wouldn't want to pay extra for a console, but with a console you get great benefits, and we all eventually upgrade our PCs, every few years, which are more expensive, and in many cases it is due to better game support. A decently done console would last many years, and maybe the possibility of some upgrading.

Many of your negatives can be dealt with by providing a better game experience, which is a quite an issue for many folk, because of the differences in PC hardware. If a game just works on the GOG console without the user having to tweak anything, that will be a great selling point way beyond any notion of just pleasing hardcore collectors.

GOG would also make sure all their games, or perhaps up to a certain era or requirement, work on the console.

In the end, like most things in life, you get what you pay for.