Another year, another update for Sony’s PlayStation Portal. The latest changes significantly broaden the range of games you can play on the device—but they also underscore the urgent need for PlayStation to make a real comeback in the handheld gaming market.
Watching the evolution of the PlayStation Portal has been intriguing, especially as Sony seems to be racing to keep pace with the gadget’s unexpected success. Launched in November 2023, the Portal was initially just a companion for the PlayStation 5, lacking its own processing capabilities and relying on Sony’s Remote Play technology to stream whatever was happening on your PS5 to the portable screen.
While it could technically be used anywhere with a strong Wi-Fi signal, the challenges of connecting to public networks and the high-speed requirements needed to even start a stream meant that the Portal was mainly practical for at-home use, allowing players to free up their main TV or play in different rooms. Nevertheless, the device gained traction, with Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Hideaki Nishino stating in 2024 that the Portal had been a “huge success.” That year, Sony made it easier to connect to public Wi-Fi and added cloud gaming support, allowing subscribers to PlayStation Plus Premium access a selection of games. The initial offering included “over 120 PS5 games from the PS Plus Game Catalog,” though this curated library was regularly updated. However, it didn’t quite deliver the transformation players might have hoped for.
Fast forward to today, and the Portal’s popularity seems unstoppable. Sony’s Takuro Fushimi recently shared with TechRadar that the "community’s response has been overwhelming" and that the Portal is now the “most widely used device for PS5 Remote Play.” So, it’s no surprise that Sony continues trying to mold it into something resembling a standalone gaming handheld, even if it’s not what they originally intended.
Clearer Skies?
Enter the latest update for the PlayStation Portal. It officially takes Cloud Streaming out of its beta phase and expands the library of streamable games from just those available in the PS Plus selection to many titles that players already own digitally. Until now, if you didn’t have a game installed on your PS5 or it wasn’t part of that cloud catalog, you were out of luck—no Portal play for you. Going forward, you’ll be able to cloud stream many titles associated with your PlayStation account, as long as you’ve purchased them from the PlayStation Store. However, you’ll still need a PS Plus Premium subscription, which will run you about $160 for the full year.
The available assortment is already impressive—over 3,000 games at the time of writing. On the surface, this could be a game-changer, not just for the Portal, but for the entire PlayStation ecosystem. It could potentially make the titles you own available to play anywhere, which might even help ease your data storage concerns. Although PS5’s internal drives can be upgraded, high-capacity SSDs can be costly, and players with large digital libraries often struggle to install everything they own. Streaming games tied to your account without taking up hard drive space could be an excellent solution.
The update also aims to enhance the overall user experience on the Portal. It now includes the ability to make in-game purchases while cloud streaming (useful if you want to buy some DLC or virtual currency) and allows players to receive multiplayer game invites while playing via the cloud. Previously, these features were only available for Remote Play since they were essentially being processed by the PS5 and mirrored on the Portal’s screen. Improvements have also been made to accessibility features, with the addition of a screen reader tool and adjustable text sizes.
