It’s time for a PlayStation Portal update, and Sony’s latest release offers something much more exciting than usual: cloud streaming is coming to the handheld if you’re a PlayStation Plus Premium member, albeit initially as a beta version.
Since its launch last year, the £200 PlayStation Portal – a PS5 peripheral rather than a standalone device – has allowed owners to stream games from their console to the smaller 1080p screen, with Sony pitching it as a way share the living room TV or play PS5 games in another room of the house. Its uses were somewhat limited then, but Sony’s latest update marks the big release, allowing PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers to play “select PS5 games” from the PS Plus game catalog via the cloud, even without a PS5 .
According to Sony’s announcement post, more than 120 games will be supported during the beta, including Dave the Diver, Ghost of Tsushima, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Monster Hunter Rise, and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. Games can be streamed up to 1080p/60fps (requiring a minimum 13Mbps internet connection) with all major DualSense wireless controller features supported along with cloud-based saves.
“As Cloud Streaming (Beta) on PS Portal remains an experimental offering,” Sony notes, “features available during the beta period may change over time and may not reflect the final experience.” game trials, the ability to stream games purchased from the PS Store, system features such as group voice chat and game invites for select games, the Create button, 3D audio, and in-game commerce are not available. available in these “initial stages of public access”. tests”, for example. Additionally, players will initially only have access to PS5 games, and PS4 and PS3 games will not be supported for the time being.
Once the beta version is available, it will be accessible through an updated PS Portal by going to Quick Menu > Settings > Cloud Streaming (Beta) and then turning on the switch. And if all goes as planned, players should see a new option on their PS Portal home screen that will allow them to access games via cloud streaming. In addition to cloud streaming, the latest update to Sony’s PlayStation Portal, available today, introduces several “improvements to the audio experience,” as detailed on the PlayStation Blog.
Digital Foundry’s Richard Leadbetter called the PlayStation Portal an “interesting device” when it launched last year, despite the feeling that “Remote Play itself isn’t as good as it should be.” Richard also explicitly mentioned the lack of cloud streaming support on the device, so it will be interesting to see Digital Foundry’s response to Sony’s latest news.
