Slowly but surely, Sony has been transforming the initially limited PlayStation Portal into a viable handheld for PS5 gamers, albeit only those with a solid internet connection. What launched as a strictly remote play device eventually got unlocked for cloud streaming, with PS Plus Premium members able to play select Game Catalog games without needing to connect to a PS5. And from 6am PT today, you can also stream select digital PS5 games that you own on the Portal.
Again, you’ll need to have a PS Plus Premium membership to take advantage of the new features, but once signed up to the most expensive tier of Sony’s subscription service you’ll be able to stream the likes of Astro Bot, Borderlands 4, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and Ghost of Yotei, which are among the the thousands of games supported at launch. Naturally some of the games in your library will probably be on PS Plus as cloud-streamable games already, but newer first-party games like several of those mentioned above aren’t.
You could, of course, already also play all of these games on the Portal over remote play from your PS5. But now that the device has been untethered from the main console, it gets a little bit closer to the dedicated go-anywhere PlayStation handheld everyone wants. That’s provided you have a decent enough Wi-Fi connection to get a good quality stream.
Alongside the new cloud streaming functionality, the Portal has a new home screen that adds a search tab for quickly finding games that are available to stream. The latest update also adds 3D audio support for supported games on both remote play and cloud streams when using wired headphones or one of Sony’s proprietary PlayStation Link headsets. You can also now add a passcode lock to the device, while a new network status screen is available in the Quick menu.
Sony now allows you to make in-game purchases while streaming games over the cloud without leaving a session, and if you have a friend playing the same game you’re streaming, you can receive invites and join their game from the Quick menu.
Sony seems intent on the PlayStation Portal plugging the gap between now and the PS6, which could reportedly arrive in the next two years alongside a powerful complementary handheld device that might beat out the ROG Xbox Ally X in the specs department. A next-generation native PlayStation handheld remains the dream, but in the meantime, the Portal is a lot more appealing than it was a few years ago.
