Sony’s PlayStation Portal handheld will release later this year for $200

There’s a new PlayStation device on the way, and its name is PlayStation Portal. 

Originally revealed as Project Q earlier in the year, the $200 handheld will allow for owners to play their installed PlayStation 5 games remotely rather than activating the actual console. 

Sony noted that the PlayStation Portal would be ideal for those “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.”

It was further confirmed the device will only work for PS5 games; titles for the PlayStation VR2 or those streamed via cloud (through PlayStation Plus’ Premium tier) are not supported. 

PlayStation Portal will release later in the year. As noted by The Verge, Sony hasn’t provided details on its battery life, which is an important thing to know for any portable-ish game device, even ones such as these.

A history of PlayStation handhelds

Sony’s output for handheld systems isn’t anywhere near as long as Nintendo’s, but its two forays into the market have each been memorable for their own respective reasons. 

The PlayStation Portable (or PSP) released in the mid-2000s, and had connectivity with both the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3. It’s also notably the only handheld console to use a disc format, and during its decade-long life, sold over 80 million units. 

In the early 2010s, Sony released the PlayStation Vita. That system noticeably stalled out after an initially strong launch of 1.2 million worldwide units sold, but it was kept around thanks largely in part to games from smaller developers in both Japan and the west. 

PlayStation Portal isn’t a full return to the handheld scene, and it may be that Sony has no desire to go back there. But the device will be invaluable to those who live with multiple people and have to fight for TV (and console) access. 

It’s also coming out at just the right time. Between the Steam Deck and devices playing in a similar space like the ASUS Ally, there’s clearly an interest in making current-generation games playable at all times possible, either via downloading to a handheld or full-on streaming.

More details on the PSPortal, and the previously announced PlayStation Earbuds, can be read here.