The latest update to PlayStation Portal proves that Sony needs a true portable console again

Another year, another Update to Sony’s PlayStation portal. The latest hardware tweak significantly expands the list of games that can be played on the device, but the end result only highlights how much PlayStation needs to re-enter the portable gaming market for real.

The evolution of PlayStation Portal has been fascinating to watch, mainly due to Sony’s vision as it strives to keep up with the unexpected popularity of the gadget. Launching in November 2023, Portal was intended to be merely an accessory for the PlayStation 5. It had no native processing capabilities, but simply used Sony’s Remote Play technology to stream everything that happened on players’ personal PS5 to the mobile device’s screen.

Although it could technically be used anywhere with a strong Wi-Fi signal, difficulties in connecting to public networks and high-speed requirements to even start streaming meant that the Gateway was only suitable for use at home, or for main TV editing or gaming in another room.

Somehow, this portal is still taking off, with Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Hideaki Nishino saying in 2024 that the portal has been a “huge success.” In the same year, Sony made it easier to connect to public Wi-Fi and added real-time cloud gaming support to Portal, with a selection of games on offer for players subscribing to PlayStation Plus Premium. The initial offering included “over 120 PS5 games from the PS Plus game catalogue”, though the curated library was subject to change. This could have been a major shift in how players interacted with both hardware and software, but in practice, it wasn’t.

However, another year has passed and the portal’s success seems unstoppable. Sony’s Takuro Fushimi recently told TechRadar that “the community response has been overwhelming” and that Portal is now “the most widely used device for remote play on PS5.” It’s no surprise, then, that Sony continues to try to turn it into something that, if you squint your eyes, looks like the indie console it was never meant to be, but gamers so desperately want.

Clearer skies?

Enter the latest update to PlayStation Portal. It brings cloud streaming out of its beta phase, expanding the streamable library from just those titles included in the PS Plus collection to many more digitally owned games for players. As of now, if you don’t have a game installed locally on your PS5 or it’s not included in this cloud catalogue, it’s too bad there’s no Portal launch for you. From now on, you’ll be able to cloud stream many titles if they’re linked to your PlayStation account through a purchase from the PlayStation Store — though you’ll still need to subscribe to the PS Plus Premium tier to use the feature, which will cost you $160 for a full year.

The available selection is truly extensive, with over 3,000 games at the time of writing. On the face of it, this should be a transformative development not only for the portal, but also for PlayStation as a gaming ecosystem. This can potentially extend the availability of titles you own to wherever you want to play them, and can also help alleviate data storage issues. Although the PS5’s internal drives can be expanded, SSDs can be expensive at higher capacities, and gamers with large digital collections often can’t install everything they own. Being able to stream games associated with your account without taking up drive space could be a great solution.

The update also aims to improve the broader player experience on the portal. It finally adds the ability to make in-game purchases when cloud streaming (which can be useful if you want to purchase some downloadable content or virtual currency), and allows players to receive game invitations to multiplayer sessions when playing a game via the cloud. Previously, these features were only enabled for Remote Play games on Portal, where they were physically performed through the PS5 and displayed on the Portal screen. Accessibility features have also been improved, with the addition of a screen reader tool and adjustable text sizes.