As PlayStation bosses celebrate PS Portal usage figures, I can finally say the weird little PS5 peripheral justifies its existence

Last week, Sony announced that the PS Portal - a £200 device traditionally sold as 'a PS5 peripheral' rather than a standalone, game-ready device - would be getting its biggest update since its 2023 launch. After being in beta for a year, the PS Portal can now stream games directly from PlayStation servers, meaning you can play PlayStation 5 games (or any viable game from your library or the PS Plus Premium collection) directly to the Portal. Suddenly, the machine isn't just a PS5 peripheral, it's a little juggernaut in and of itself.

Even before the update, Sony bigwigs were on a victory tour. In an interview with TechRadar Gaming, Takuro Fushimi (senior manager of product management at Sony) revealed that the PS Portal had met and exceeded Sony's expectations for engagement, and is now the premier place people go to use Remote Play within the PlayStation ecosystem, surpassing mobile PC, PS5, and PS4.

"Before we launched the Portal, some questioned whether there would be demand for it, as it is such a unique product being a dedicated Remote Play device to start off with," Fushimi told the site. "However, we've seen the community's response has been overwhelming.

"Our data shows that PlayStation portal users are more engaged than non-users. [The] PlayStation portal has now become the most widely used device for PlayStation 5 Remote Play, surpassing mobile PC, PS5, and PS4."

In the same interview, Fushimi noted that the average usage time of the device was "around two hours", and that it is not a standalone console "yet". Now, that last word is very important, because as of this most recent update, the Portal is effectively as useful as a PS5 - if you only want to play certain titles.

Granted, the entire library of games is not yet available on the Portal, but honestly the suite of games available to you is pretty impressive. You can see it for yourself here. I've played a lot of the Portal in the time I've had it - I used it almost exclusively to write my Final Fantasy Tactics review - often beavering away at an RPG whilst I've got something else playing on my TV. But now, in one update, I'm using it more: I had a lengthy wait in a GP's office last week, and spent my downtime clearing a few Arcade runs in Tekken 3 (played via PS Plus Premium). I haven't installed the game on my PS5. That feels pretty amazing.

I was using my phone hotspot to do this, and I can do that because I have unlimited data as part of my plan (that is expensive, yes, but I work in media and often have to file copy on the fly, so it makes sense for me). I was surprised: 5G coverage is pretty decent where I live in Bristol, but the game ran without pause even though I'm slightly more rural these days. The Portal, I'm learning, is a perfectly cromulent portable device now (as long as you've got the data and phone battery life to support it).

Over the weekend, I took the Portal to a local coffee shop and, later, a bar. Both public hotspots held up decently enough, and aside from a little artefacting here and there, the streaming tech even let me sink another four hours into my Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth save. My save data was automatically uploaded (thanks, cloud saves!) and when I got home I quite literally picked up where I left off. Am I getting the benefits of my PS5 Pro by streaming remotely to a 1080p screen? No. But does the game look absolutely incredible given it's streaming directly from a server somewhere hundreds of miles from my location? Yes. I even made friends with a local barista who saw what I was playing and showed me their Moogle tattoo. Honestly, I had a great Sunday.

The initial outlay for the Portal was eye-watering. £200! For a machine that only really let you stream on decent home WiFi from your own PS5 if you had a good upload connection. Now, all that seems moot: all you need is a decent local connection, and you're good to go. I've actually uninstalled some games (Death Stranding, Resident Evil Village) because I figure I'll mostly play those games via the Portal, now, and I need room on the SSD for Call of Duty. The Portal, in its own right, has become a game-changer.

Now, I find myself recommending the Portal to people even if they don't own a PS5. This lovely barista had never seen the machine before, saw I was playing Rebirth on it without a connection, and immediately hit up eBay looking at the average price of a local Portal. With a (still pricey) PS Plus subscription, this is now a decent entry-level option for people looking to hop into the PlayStation ecosystem. And I imagine Sony is loving every second of it.

Factor in some other elements - like the Pulse Elevate speakers Sony announced earlier this year, and the rumoured handheld device it's working on - and I think the PlayStation vision for 2026 and beyond becomes clear: the PlayStation console is still going to be a core part of what the platform holder is pursuing, and remote play and cross-play will sit at the nexus of what the PlayStation experience is.

And if it all feels as seamless and easy as this Portal upgrade has been then, well, I'm all here for it.