After officially unveiling the PlayStation Portal, a handheld games console designed for streaming PS5 games over wifi, Sony has announced the device’s release date and put the machine up for pre-order.
Costing £199.99, the PlayStation Portal will be in gamers’ hands next month. But while it looks like a traditional handheld games console, you’ll 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.
Sony says the eight inch portable display is capable of 1080p resolutions and refresh rates of up to 60fps. As rumoured, it 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.
Here’s everything you need to know about the PlayStation Portal, including the PlayStation Portal’s release date and where you can pre-order the accessory.
PlayStation Portal release date and price
The PlayStation Portal will launch on 15 November here in the UK. It costs £199.99, and you can already pre-order the device exclusively from PlayStation Direct. Sony has not announced when third-party retailers will start selling the handheld.
PlayStation Portal remote player: £199.99, Playstation.com
The PlayStation Portal is a Nintendo Switch-style device that is 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 couch, on the toilet (no judgements here) – and 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 eight-inch LCD screen plonked in the middle. It will stream your PS5 games at resolutions of up to 1080p and up to 60fps. The remote plyaer is available to pre-order now and will begin shipping on 15 November.
Other gaming handhelds to consider
Steam Deck: From £349, Steampowered.com
The Steam Deck is an incredible piece of hardware, cramming all of the power and performance of a mid-range gaming PC into a handheld you can throw in a backpack and 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 the handheld in 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 G Cloud: £329, Currys.co.uk
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 like Forza Horizon 5 on a lightweight and energy-efficient handheld, by connecting to services like Xbox Gamepass, Nvidia GeForce Now. You can also install Android apps to enable emulation of classic retro games.
Like Sony’s upcoming PlayStation Portal, the Logitech G Cloud can also 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 just so long as you’ve got a decent wi-fi extender.
Nintendo Switch OLED: £309, Currys.co.uk
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 (£44.99, 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 at their absolute best whether playing docked to the TV or in handheld mode.
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