The PlayStation Portal, a handheld device that allows you to stream games from your PS5 as long as you’re on the same WiFi network, becomes a whole lot better today because you can now stream games from the cloud without the need for a console at all.
Announced by Sony‘s vice president of product management Hiromi Wakai on the PlayStation Blog, the new cloud streaming beta will allow PS Plus Premium subscribers to play the 120+ games from the PS Plus game catalog without the need for a PS5 at all. This is a huge improvement to the system which previously required a connection to your PS5, making it little more than a remote screen that was limited to your own home.
The most revolutionary aspect of the cloud streaming beta is it essentially turns the PS Portal into a budget PS5. There’s no mention of a requirement to connect to a PS5, so you can now play over 120 games at up to 1080p and 60fps on the Portal without the need for a PS5 at all.
It seems that this is only the beginning for the beta, as a ‘features not included’ section implies you’ll one day be able to stream any PS5 game you’ve already bought digitally. There are other limitations at the moment, such as not being able to use party voice chat or buy in-game purchases, and you can’t stream PS4 or PS3 games on it yet.
I never bothered with the PS Portal as it was just a $200 way to play my PS5 on the toilet instead of in my bedroom, and while I love gaming, I’m okay with taking a break every now and then. But now, this brings PlayStation’s cloud streaming capabilities closer to what Xbox Game Pass offers with its ability to turn lots of smart TVs and phones into cloud streaming devices.
This is also the perfect feature to add just before Thanksgiving and all the other holidays coming up in December, as it means you can go to family homes with just the PS Portal and still escape into your video games without the need to take a bulky PS5 with you.
Just a reminder, this is only available if you’re on the most expensive PS Plus tier, Premium. It costs $159.99 a year, or $17.99 per month. It’s also not available worldwide, only in: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Cyprus, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States.
If you’re excited about this feature, you should check out our list of the best PS5 games, as many of them can be played using this beta feature.