I’ve always been curious about thePlayStation Portal, but like a lot of the Sony peripherals that have launched as part of thePS5generation, there is always a catch. The device is just an 8-inch tablet screen with two halves of a DualSense controller attached to each end, and exists to stream the console experience directly into the palm of your hands.
The Portal streams directly from the PS5 at a 1080p resolution with a performance cap of 60 frames per second, and it’s marketed as an official, high quality means of remote play instead of a dedicated portable handheld. It needs an internet connection and a PS5 to work, so without either of those, it’s functionally useless. This means it appeals to a small subset of users, with an expensive asking price making it even harder to swallow. It hasn’t tickled my fancy. Until now…
PlayStation Portal Is Now A Cloud Streaming Device
Earlier this week,Sony launched a surprise updatefor the Portal that adds cloud streaming to enhance some of the media player’s audio capabilities. The new feature is in its beta period right now, but already offers PlayStation Plus members the chance to play 120 games on their device by streaming them directly, essentially wiping out the middle man that made the Portal so frustrating in its previous form.
The Portal’s shortcomings seem even stranger when both theWii Ugamepad andPS Vitacould connect directly to their console counterparts with far fewer issues.
One of the reasons I never bothered picking up a Portal, and the same goes for thousands of others, is that its only purpose was to essentially act as an extension of my PS5. This was also dependent on my internet speed and how far away I was from the console, so playing on my television the old-fashioned way seemed much more reliable. It wasn’t very appealing, and since release Sony has offered little in the way of updates or refinements.
While this cloud gaming update is relatively light in the grand scheme of things, it could be the start of something much bigger - an ambition to turn the Portal into a streaming device that embraces the technology instead of awkwardly dancing around it. I’m also somewhat taken aback that Sony has taken an entire year to update the Portal with this when it might have sold so many more units at launch if it were included.
Cloud Gaming Is A Future That Sony Needs To Embrace
Sony is no stranger to cloud gaming either, with PlayStation Now using it to encompass PS3 and PS4 titles. It operates as a replacement for native backward compatibility and a way for older but perhaps not essential experiences to find a home on modern hardware, not to mention it’s long been available on platforms like mobile and PC.
It was a service that existed, but the majority of players never bothered to use it. Now it’s been largely phased out as cloud streaming becomes a base level feature for PS5 the majority of games now support. It works a treat, and if it was folded into the Portal as a baseline feature that worked without problems, it would completely change my relationship with it.
I would delve deeper into my digital library, give older PS3 and PS4 titles a chance, or even change my wider gaming habits, so I’m not sitting in front of a giant 4K screen all the time. I’ll be stuck to a smaller one instead, and we all know that’s way better.
Only time will tell if I end up purchasing a PlayStation Portal, but with this recent update my interest has skyrocketed. If Sony keeps building on this cloud gaming vision in a way that extends beyond the Portal being more than a PS5 paperweight, I could fold sooner rather than later.
PlayStation Portal
The PlayStation Portal is a handheld companion to Sony’s PlayStation 5 console. Based around the features of a DualSense controller and Remote Play, it features an eight-inch LCD screen at 1080p resolution capable of 60fps, a headphone jack for wired audio.
