The PlayStation Portal – the handheld games console designed to stream PS5 games over wifi – is out now, but quickly sold out across UK retailers, leaving many people wondering when it will be back in stock.
Priced at £199.99, the PlayStation Portal launched on 15 November. But while it looks like a traditional handheld games console, you actually need to own a PS5 console to use it – the PlayStation Portal remotely streams games from your main console to the device over your local wifi connection, bypassing the need for a television and letting you play games anywhere at home.
The 8in portable display is capable of 1,080px resolutions and refresh rates of up to 60fps. The device resembles a Nintendo Switch bookended by two halves of a DualSense controller.
While the PS5 allows players to stream new games via the cloud, over PS Plus Premium, there seems to be no plans to allow PlayStation Portal owners to stream any PS5 games that aren’t already installed on their home console. That positions the PlayStation Portal as more of a PS5 accessory rather than a full-blown, standalone device.
The remote player has already proven popular in other territories, selling out in Japan when pre-orders opened and seeing stock fly off the virtual shelves of Amazon US.
Here’s everything you need to know about the PlayStation Portal, including the best places to check for UK stock today.
PlayStation Portal remote player: £199.99, Game.co.uk
(The Independent)
The PlayStation Portal is a Nintendo Switch-style device that’s effectively a second screen for your PS5, letting you play your existing library of PS5 games on a portable display anywhere on your home wifi network – in bed, on the sofa, on the toilet (no judgements here) – freeing up your television for other people at home.
It fits neatly into the growing PS5 family of accessories and devices and resembles a really long DualSense pad with an 8in LCD screen plonked in the middle. It streams your PS5 games at resolutions of up to 1,080px and at 60fps.
PlayStation Portal release date and price
The PlayStation Portal launched on 15 November in the UK for £199.99.
As mentioned above, it’s not a full-blown handheld console like the PSP or Nintendo Switch. If you want to play PS5 games away from home, we’ve rounded up a few of our favourite handhelds that can play PS5 games below.
Best gaming handheld devices to consider
(Steve Hogarty/The Independent)
The Steam Deck is an incredible piece of hardware, cramming all the power and performance of a mid-range gaming PC into a handheld you can throw in a backpack, allowing you to play your library of Steam games anywhere you please. Limited battery life is a stumbling block for anyone who plans on taking it on a long-haul flight any time soon but, for most cases, the requirement to plug in the handheld every few hours is inconvenient rather than a deal-breaker.
Completely open to modding and with the full weight of the Steam library behind it, Valve’s pioneering handheld feels like the beginning of a new generation for PC gaming. It also works with PlayStation’s remote play feature.
(Logitech)
Unlike the Steam Deck – which is essentially a tiny PC – the Logitech G Cloud is an Android device that can stream next-gen console games over the internet. That means you can play graphically intense titles such as Forza Horizon 5 on a lightweight and energy-efficient handheld, by connecting to services such as Xbox Gamepass and Nvidia GeForce Now. You can also install Android apps to enable the emulation of classic retro games.
Like Sony’s upcoming PlayStation Portal, the Logitech G Cloud can stream PS5 and other console games you already own over your home wifi connection. Basically, you can play your PC, Xbox or PlayStation games in the bath, on the sofa or on the toilet, as long as you’ve got a decent wifi extender.
(Amazon)
Unlike the Steam Deck and the Logitech G Cloud, which can be modified to play Android games and stream titles from Xbox, Steam and PlayStation, the Nintendo Switch OLED will only play Nintendo-approved games. And that’s fine because Nintendo makes the best games in the world, including the recently released Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (£47.99, Currys.co.uk). In our Tears of the Kingdom review, we said the game “rewards ingenuity and player experimentation” and is an instant classic on Nintendo Switch.
The OLED version of Nintendo’s record-breaking handheld is the best you can get and features a bigger and brighter OLED screen, so games look their absolute best whether playing docked to the TV or in handheld mode.
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Sophie Anderson, a UK-based writer, is your guide to the latest trends, viral sensations, and internet phenomena. With a finger on the pulse of digital culture, she explores what’s trending across social media and pop culture, keeping readers in the know about the latest online sensations.
