PlayStation Portal update makes PS5 games playable via cloud streaming
PlayStation Portal update makes PS5 games playable via cloud streaming
Sony's $199 PlayStation Portal is all of a sudden a lot more appealing – if you're a PlayStation Plus Premium member
🎮 PlayStation Portal can now cloud-stream some PS5 games in beta
🙅♂️ Sony’s $199 remote player won’t need to connect to your PS5 console
🌎 PS5 cloud streaming should make playing away from home easier
📶 You need at least a 7Mbps (for 720p) or 13Mbps (for 1080p) connection
💰 You must also be a PlayStation Plus Premium subscriber for the beta
🔮 This may be a prelude to launching a Sony PSP 2 handheld next year
The PlayStation Portal just became a lot more useful in year two, as Sony announced that its remote player would be able to play select PS5 games from the cloud. It’s not the Sony PSP 2 handheld rumored for next year, but it’s a start.
Today’s new firmware update means that more than 120 of the best PS5 games will be playable on the PS Portal without connecting to your PS5 or PS5 Pro console at home. Suddenly, the $199 PlayStation Portal is infinitely more valuable when traveling. Just be prepared to pony up for PlayStation Plus Premium to stream games.
Why the PlayStation Portal update is a big deal
Being able to remotely play triple-A PS5 games on the $199 PlayStation Portal, like Ghost of Tsushima, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, is a big deal for gamers who initially dismissed the “second screen” accessory. Sony got a lot of flack from PlayStation gamers who wanted a true successor to the 20-year-old PlayStation Portal that could play games outside your home.
The now-two-year-old PlayStation Portal only occasionally worked outside of our home WiFi with a really strong connection, according to The Shortcut’s testing. As of today, there’s less of a relay system to connect to your home console.
Requires PlayStation Plus Premium and more
Not everyone will be able to play around with “Cloud Streaming Beta on PS Portal” as it rolls out in today’s firmware update. There’s a catch or two in Sony’s blog post.
First, the streaming of PS5 games from the cloud remains exclusive to PlayStation Plus Premium members, according to Sony. That does make sense because cloud streaming PS5 games is the biggest perk of its highest-tier online subscription, in addition to getting PS Plus free games monthly. This is nothing new.
Second, you’ll still need a steady connection to pull off this remote play functionality. Sony says streaming at 720p requires a minimum of 7Mbps, while streaming at 1080 requires a minimum of 13Mbps. But the PS Portal should work a lot better than before.
It’s still not the offline-capable PSP 2 we want Sony to make in 2025, but it’s a start. And with Microsoft saying it’s working on an Xbox handheld to launch in the next few years and the Asus ROG Ally X appealing to gamers, you’ve got to think that PlayStation Portal is just laying the groundwork for a PSP 2 handheld.