PlayStation Portal’s Latest Update Proves Sony Needs a Real Handheld Console Again

Another year, another update to Sony’s PlayStation Portal. The latest tweak to the hardware considerably expands the roster of games playable on the device—but the end result only highlights how urgently PlayStation needs to re-enter the gaming handheld market for real.

The evolution of PlayStation Portal has been fascinating to watch, mainly to see Sony practically scrambling to keep up with the gadget’s unexpected popularity. Launched November 2023, Portal was intended as a mere accessory for PlayStation 5. It had no native processing abilities, simply using Sony’s Remote Play technology to stream whatever happened on players’ personal PS5 to the portable’s screen.

Although it could technically be used anywhere with a strong Wi-Fi signal, difficulties connecting to public networks and high speed requirements to even launch a stream meant the Portal was effectively only suitable for in-home use, to free up the main TV or play in another room.

Somehow, it still took off, with Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Hideaki Nishino saying in 2024 that the Portal had been a “huge success.” The same year, Sony made it easier to connect to public Wi-Fi and added actual cloud gaming support to Portal, with a selection of games on offer to players subscribing to PlayStation Plus Premium. The initial offering included “over 120 PS5 games from the PS Plus Game Catalog,” though the curated library was subject to change. It could have been a big shift in how players approached hardware and software alike, but, in practice, didn’t really deliver.

Even so, another year on and the Portal’s success seems unstoppable. Sony’s Takuro Fushimi recently told TechRadar that “the community’s response has been overwhelming” and that Portal is now the “most widely used device for PS5 Remote Play.” It’s little surprise, then, that Sony keeps trying to hammer it into something that looks, if you squint, like the standalone gaming handheld it was never intended to be, but that players so desperately want.

Clearer Skies?

Enter the newest update to PlayStation Portal. It takes Cloud Streaming out of its beta phase, expanding the streamable library from only those titles included in the PS Plus selection to many games digitally owned by players. Until now, if you didn’t have a game installed locally on your PS5 or it wasn’t included in that cloud catalog, too bad, no Portal play for you. Going forwards, you’ll be able to cloud stream many titles if they’re tied to your PlayStation account through purchase on the PlayStation Store—although you will still need to be subscribed at the PS Plus Premium tier to use the feature, which will set you back $160 for a full year.

The assortment available is already vast—more than 3,000 games at time of writing. On the face of it, this should be a transformative development for not just the Portal, but PlayStation as a gaming ecosystem. It potentially extends availability of titles you own to wherever you want to play them, and could even help alleviate data storage woes. Although the PS5’s internal drives can be expanded, SSDs can be pricey at higher capacities, and players with large digital collections often can’t install everything they own. Being able to stream games tied to your account without eating up drive space could be a great workaround.

The update also aims to improve the broader player experience on Portal. It finally adds the ability to make in-game purchases when cloud streaming (potentially useful if you want to buy some DLC or virtual currency), and allows players to receive game invites to multiplayer sessions when playing a game via the cloud. Previously, these features were only enabled for Remote Play gaming on Portal, since they were effectively being done through the PS5 and mirrored on the Portal’s screen. Accessibility features have also been improved, adding a screen reader tool and adjustable text sizes.