According to Polygon, Sony’s PlayStation Portal handheld now officially supports Cloud Streaming, letting owners play games like Astro Bot, Fortnite, and Grand Theft Auto 5 directly from Sony’s servers without connecting to their PS5. The cloud streaming feature, which has been in beta since November 2024, requires a PlayStation Plus Premium subscription costing $159.99 per year or $17.99 monthly. This gives access to hundreds of compatible games from the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog including Cyberpunk 2077, God of War Ragnarök, and The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered. Wednesday’s update also includes a redesigned user interface, 3D audio support, and network status screens. The $199.99 device now allows browsing in-game stores, receiving game invitations, and accessing new accessibility options through cloud streaming.
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From Companion Device to Standalone Player
This changes everything about the PlayStation Portal. When it launched in 2023, the device was basically just a Remote Play screen for your PS5. You needed your console on, connected to the internet, and someone else couldn’t be using it. Now? It’s suddenly a much more independent gaming device. You can be playing something via cloud streaming while your partner watches Netflix on the actual PS5. That’s a huge quality-of-life improvement that makes the Portal actually make sense for more households.
The Technical Realities of Cloud Gaming
Here’s the thing about cloud streaming – it’s entirely dependent on your internet connection. Sony’s cloud streaming requirements specify you need at least 5Mbps for 720p and 15Mbps for 1080p. But honestly, you’ll want significantly more than that for a smooth experience. Latency is the real killer with cloud gaming. Even with a fast connection, that slight delay between pressing a button and seeing the action can make fast-paced games frustrating. The new network status screen should help diagnose issues, but cloud gaming still has its limitations compared to local hardware.
Is PS Plus Premium Worth It Now?
At $160 per year, PlayStation Plus Premium isn’t cheap. But suddenly it does a lot more heavy lifting. You’re not just getting access to the game catalog – you’re getting the ability to play those games on your Portal without touching your PS5. That’s a fundamentally different value proposition. For people who already pay for Premium, this is basically a free upgrade that makes their Portal much more useful. For everyone else? It’s now a much more compelling reason to consider upgrading.
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What This Means for PlayStation’s Future
This move feels significant beyond just the Portal. As Sony’s blog post details, they’re clearly investing heavily in their cloud infrastructure. Could this be testing the waters for a more cloud-native PlayStation experience down the road? Probably. The fact that they’re letting people play side-by-side with someone using the actual console suggests they’re confident in their server capacity. This might be the beginning of PlayStation becoming less about the box under your TV and more about the games you can access anywhere.
