Madhav Mehrotra
Sony are no strangers to the handheld console market, and have added to that list with the PlayStation Portal that was announced in August of 2023. Previously, they’ve released the PlayStation Portable (PSP) and the PlayStation Vita, both of which were successful and popular to varying degrees.
With pre – orders for the new PlayStation Portal now live, fans took to Twitter/X to express their dissatisfaction with the product, despite many being quite happy with the PlayStation 5 over the last few years. This less than happy reception could also have to do with the fact that Bethesda’s latest open world role playing game (RPG), Starfield, being exclusive to Xbox consoles and PC.
What did gamers say about PlayStation Portal?
Given that the PlayStation Portal already requires players to own a PlayStation 5, they were unhappy and perplexed as to why they would buy it in the first place if they could already the same games at a higher resolution on their TVs or monitors.
I really hope it flops. We deserve better
— Gr1zZ (@Gr1zZtv) August 31, 2023
Not interested
— Hunter_Assassin 1999 (@HUNTER_ASSASS1N) September 1, 2023
nobody buying this
— vibes (@ImVibes999) August 31, 2023
The PlayStation Portal also requires players to shell out $200, which many fans feel is asking for too much.
i still don't understand the allure of this thing. if I want to play my PS5, i'll just play my PS5. not gonna pay 200 bucks to play my PS5 on a smaller screen
— 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 (@thisisterrible0) August 31, 2023
If i want to play my PS5 i play my PS5. How are y'all not seeing how ridiculous this is? A surrogate for a surrogate putting things 20 steps back 🤣
— R3kluse (@R3kluse) August 31, 2023
With all the limits on this, I don’t see it’s appeal…
— SubNuke (@rmccullough86) August 31, 2023
On the whole, it’s safe to say that many fans are less than pleased with the PlayStation Portal for various reasons.
What do we know about the PlayStation Portal?
The PlayStation Portal was announced in August, and Sony have revealed the details on the PlayStation Blog. It borrows some features from the PlayStation 5, such as the popular and well received adaptive triggers and haptic feedback on the Dualsense controller, as well as the ability to run certain games at sixty frames per second (60 fps). As per the post on the PlayStation Blog, Sony said:
“The vibrant 8-inch LCD screen is capable of 1080p resolution at 60fps, providing a high definition visual experience that’s expected from the high quality games created by world-class developers. PlayStation Portal is the perfect device for gamers in households where they might need to share their living room TV or simply want to play PS5 games in another room of the house. PlayStation Portal will connect remotely to your PS5 over Wi-Fi**, so you’ll be able to swiftly jump from playing on your PS5 to your PlayStation Portal. PlayStation Portal can play supported games that are installed on your PS5 console and use the Dualsense controller. It also includes a 3.5mm audio jack for wired audio”.
However, certain features present on the PlayStation 5 would be absent on the PlayStation Portal:
“PS VR2 games, which require the headset, and games that are streamed through PlayStation Plus Premium’s cloud streaming, are not supported”.
The absence of these virtual reality support and game streaming through the cloud were also why some fans expressed their frustration with the PlayStation Portal.
Source: PlayStation Blog, Twitter/X
