PlayStation Portal Sales Continue to Impress Despite Skepticism

Sony has said that the PlayStation Portal is meant to be a niche product for a specific audience, but its sales continue to impress.

[BrettAwesome]

And PS2 is at...155? Damn...the Switch got close! It still just might make it.

[CrimsonWing69]

155 units sold?

[Profchaos]

Plus or minus a few zeros

[BrettAwesome]

The disagrees for this 😂😂😂 for some numbers. Or is it because I dare say the Switch might have a go at the PS2 numbers? Is that forbidden? 😂😂😂 what if I end up being right?

[Barlos]

I use mine a lot. Don't get me wrong it's not perfect by any means. It really isn't good for fast paced games but as I love my RPGs it's perfect for those. I've put a good few hours into BG3 and Infinite Wealth on my Portal when the TV is being used. It's so good to use that at times it's easy to forget it's not playing games natively.

[monkey602]

I took the time to upgrade my network at home by replacing the router and getting a mesh system throughout the house before I bought the portal. I have absolutely zero latency issues with it and I am using it currently to play Helldivers, The Finals and Star Wars Jedi Survivor.

[Ironmike]

So uspent a fortune for 200 pound handheld device lol

[darthv72]

@mike, a mesh network is not very expensive. I think I paid $200 for mine. It made a huge difference in performance and coverage.

[monkey602]

Or IronMike!... hear me out here. I spent money upgrading my home network and now the back rooms with smart tvs and our home office benefit too.
So quick to judge, You should have taken a second to use some common sense first. 🙄

[Eonjay]

It's perfect for helldivers! I also use mine to play FF7 Rebirth and Granblue fantasy. I'm actually expecting the PS5 Pro to enhance Remote Play by streaming downsampled performance modes.

[Charlieboy333]

@ironbike Yeah, it's not like people would like to improve their network for other reasons. What he actually said was, he happened to upgrade his network 'before' he got his portal. Not 'because' of his portal. But I know reading is hard for you ( and writing based on all your comments ).

Edit: I just saw Monkey replied and said pretty much what I said. So that's already two people with more advanced thinking skills than you.

[Barlos]

Nice! Tbh my home isn't suited to a mesh network but it could benefit from an upgraded router. We're using a TPLink Archer 2600. It does the job but is definitely showing its age. In honesty we don't get much lag, but in the faster games such as GT7 it does stutter every now and again. Otherwise the connection is strong even on my old TPLink 😂

[blackblades]

Right, they should've at least have 2 modes. Remote play via Wi-Fi and a direct connect to the system like how the dual sense is for better latency. Overall that one time I played on phone it was response imo so which leads to me getting a portal one day. Making a native system just for ps4 games doesnt make sense to me when you have this with remote play. No one is gonna play competitive on a handheld to begin with

[RNTody]

@monkey602 Same, I upgraded my home network to a mesh one sometime ago and it works wonders for the Portal. TP-Link Archer 3000 Router and a Wifi extender. Pretty much can move wherever I want in the house and never drop a bar.

[RNTody]

Not surprised. My Portal has been a life changer with two kids in the house. I use it almost every day and the comfort factor and build quality is amazing. Of course playing on a big TV with Pulse Elite headphones is superior, but the Portal is such a damn good handheld experience that you get lost in it. Can't remote play any other way now.

[1nsomniac]

‘They’ as well as the rest of the paid media also claimed this for PSVR2…. It’s about time people realised published sales figures mean nothing and can be slanted to any direction to suit the chosen narrative… they’re fake..

[Profchaos]

This is a far different story to the psvr2 this will support every game until the end of the generation. So to the end user it's just numbers on a spreadsheet and low numbers won't negatively impact their experience.

The psvr2 is a year In and there's no word on what's next in terms of first party with only two first party games being launched to date. Low sales of the psvr2 mean us psvr2 owners can kiss long term support goodbye Sony's already opening the headset up to PC comparability which is nice but also says hey we tried but we got nothing go play your fancy headset on steam VR

I say this as a psvr2 owner who genuinely loves the hardware and the games I've played so far but I still feel ripped off it's got the same feeling like when I had the 32x and Sega CD in the 90s.

But maybe I'm just a sucker

[crazyCoconuts]

I'm with you. It feels like they had bigger plans and then changed their mind. I also felt their decision to not build in compatibility with our purchased PSVR 1 games was a business decision, not a technical one.
I was moving from a Rift S though, where Facebook/Meta screwed us pretty hard so I'm still relatively happy with the move. There's a decent amount of games to play and the headset is really good. But I am disappointed in Sony as I think it could be much better

[Einhander1972]

By paid media you mean all the people who said it would fail before it launched and did everything they could to tell people not to buy it, right?

This isn't paid media this is NPD, Circana saying it's selling well btw.

[Ironmike]

Everyone of my friends on psn about 200 ppl who I know owns a ps5 nor one of them have bought one it it's bullshit

[crazyCoconuts]

"Sell through" is difficult to report, so yeah sometimes stores aren't selling their stock.
But this is different. Try to find one to buy at list price... Not easy in the US. These aren't sitting in store shelves.

[Ironmike]

Totally I remember all the sales articles saying psvr2 selling out now articles saying massive stockpile no one buying them I don't believe this selling great no browser latency issues I calling this bs as well

[thorstein]

We know at launch the story was 100k per week.

Of course that will drop off, it will for anything that's new. (A few exceptions prove the rule.) PC support is rumored to be incoming. But those "stopped production" stories all quote Bloomberg. And they have it as a rumor.

[porkChop]

The thing is, this isn't even sales figures. It's the best selling accessory in terms of dollar amount. It costs multiple times what the average accessory costs though. I'm not saying it's a failure or anything, but you can't really extrapolate any sales data from this.

[blackblades]

You forget Sony never expect both to sells like Hot cakes. Its there for ones who wants it.

[StormSnooper]

Portal is perfect for those times you just wanna lay down and play a quick session.

[BillyCrystals]

The hate the Portal gets is so weird to me. If it's not for you, fine, but why the hate for it's simple existence? It's just an accessory. One that many love, especially new Dads.

[porkChop]

The hate is because of 2 things.

1) The price. This thing is $270 in Canada. That's crazy. $305 after tax. For something that isn't a dedicated handheld the price is just too high for many.

2) Sony's messaging before release was just dogshit. Their own website said the thing could only be used with your "home WiFi" connection, meaning you wouldn't have been able to take it on the go. A lot of people still think that's true. Sony makes the damn thing and they couldn't even explain the capabilities properly.

[Ps5conehead]

We know your a Xbox. You hate Sony. Iconnected my portal to my phone while in hospital. It worked great what’s your problem

[RedDevils]

From what I'm getting, you're cheap. Stop crying if you're never gonna buy it.

[porkChop]

@cone

What? I didn't say it wouldn't work. Maybe you should learn how to read.

@RedDevils

I'm far from cheap. I just don't personally think that amount of money is worth it for a tethered device that relies on another system. If it was a new PSP I could understand. Also, I'm not "crying". BillyCrystals asked a question and I answered. Sorry I hurt your feelings by saying something you disagree with.

[Bathyj]

Who even wants this?

Oh, the people that buy it.

[Ironmike]

I don't know anyone who has if that popular and I got lot gaming friends as we all do from all over I haven't heard a peep apart from on here and reddit

[Dfooster]

You keep telling us you have lots of friends and nobody has one, but maybe all your friends are alike? It doesn't change the facts that these things are elusive as hell to get hold of and sell out as soon as stock is renewed. I get the impression you play a lot online, but to many these devices are great for single player games where you can just chill out and lay back

[RNTody]

Dude I live in South Africa where this device is expensive and it's still sold out at five major retailers, only found one with some in stock online only. I pre-ordered mine to make sure I got it. So quit using major anecdotal evidence. I can also say that from my group of friends no one is buying a Portal, but that's because they're not the target audience. They're PC gamers, casuals and competitive players.

This is an accessory, stop acting like it's a console that's supposed to sell like the Switch. It's for a specific audience and it seems to be serving them well. I know I'm happy with mine.

[MrNinosan]

All yer friends on Series S most likely.

[Ps5conehead]

You probably have no friends. So you don’t want a portal fine I enjoy mone

[DarXyde]

Perhaps your friends list is an awful sampling?

You think 200 "friends" from wherever they are is representative of 50M+ PlayStation 5 owners?

I don't own one and have no need for one, but I don't understand why it seems inconceivable to you that it's doing better than Sony (and perhaps many of us, myself included) anticipated.

Don't be a hater.

[raWfodog]

Yeah it keeps going over a lot of people’s head for some reason. This was never marketed as a separate hand-held device or console. It was always considered to be a ‘niche’ product designed specifically for remote play with your PS5 on your local home network. But the haters want to continue the narrative that it is a ‘dud’ or that people were ‘duped’ for buying one. To be clear on my stance, I don’t own one and am not interested in one but that doesn’t mean that I can’t see the value of it for someone who fits the targeted market.

[Ironmike]

Good point mt it could well be that they aren't many about my bad never thought about that

[TheEroica]

Have fun with that! The ps portal is as big a turd of a product as Sony has made, well... Other than psvr 1 and 2. Can't believe how easily duped the fanbase is.

[RNTody]

Duped how exactly? Sony made an accessory, told its fanbase exactly who would benefit from it and then, surprise, the target audience is happy.

What is complicated for you? What makes the Portal a bad product? Before the Portal I used to remote play on my phone with a BackBone One PS Edition, and while it was a cool gadget and great controller I cannot go back to that after the Portal. It's far superior in every single category and it's worth the extra investment.

Ergo, there's nothing wrong with a product that offers a better way to experience something that already exists.

Again, where is the fanbase being misled or "duped"? We no longer exist in a world where people want dedicated handheld games. The Switch changed that landscape, Gamers want to play the same games on their TVs that they play on the go, they just want portable convenience. The Steamdeck and Asus Rog fulfil that want and are incredible devices, but they come at a high cost and with diminished graphics and performance and battery life. Yet the trade off is worth it as they're robust and far cheaper than full on gaming PCs. The Portal is a simplistic offering that does what its dedicated audience wants it to, is far cheaper and requires no tinkering or technical know-how to operate.

[8bitAssassin]

I don't have one, but I'm laughing at people who are mad at those who own one. It's because people bought IPhones and it didn't even have a camera. Or buy high end tech they don't really need, when the next iteration launches.

[Babadook7]

Not bad. And of course this is a product that is not dependent on sales to guarantee software support.

[anast]

Of course it's a good product. I knew it was quality right out the gate.

[Retro1986]

I have recently bought a ps5 and ps portal. Im a happy dad. 🏆🙌

[Vinster]

I bought this at launch. At first, the unit seems big, but it feels great and works fantastic for me. Fun to use.

[Abear21]

Grinding GT7 with this thing and loving it, the long battery life is the best part

[jznrpg]

I use mine for games like Legend of Heroes. It’s really great for JRPGS.

[SonOfOsiris]

Lol, yeah right, how many???

[SonOfOsiris]

Lol yeah right