PlayStation Portal Is A Major Success For Sony With Almost Half Million Sales

PlayStation Portal, the PS5's handheld accessory, has become a major success for Sony, with nearly half a million sales.

[OtterX]

I finally picked one up on sale 2 weeks ago, and I'm actually blown away at the quality. I've never had as much of a stutter in my streaming (I actually forget I'm streaming many times), and the screen is crisp with vivid colors. My only small gripe is that the sticks are slightly smaller than a standard Dualsense, but I got used to it and am still really impressed on how great this feels compared to streaming on my phone with a Kishi controller. The screen is huge! Quite a bit bigger than a Switch.

I'm overall finding myself playing my PS5 more now recently, bc I don't have as much TV time these days. I'm very much into portables, and my Switch has actually started to gather a bit of dust. I'll get back to it, but this thing really is great.

[darthv72]

It is a nice convenience. I too use it more than my TV. Especially now that I'm replacing flooring in my house. I've had to use my game room to move things into from other rooms, so there is no way for me to game in there. Portal allows me to keep on playing in-between things.

[Eonjay]

Keep in mind this article is only about sales in the US. Actual global sales are probably over a million. In fact in the US, the number is around 620k.

[darthv72]

500k portals out of 60m possible consumers sounds awfully low. PSVR2 has sold more than that and is twice the price.

[Vits]

Yeah, but we have to remember that they're made of extremely cheap and outdated parts and sold for $200. So, even accounting for logistics and the retail cut, I wouldn't be surprised if the profit margin per unit is high, likely even the highest among all their products.

The PSVR2, on the other hand, was at best sold at cost and most likely at a loss.

[--Onilink--]

True, though at this point given the complete lack of price drops (the opposite in fact), I’d guess almost everything except perhaps PSVR2 runs on a profit margin for Sony this gen.

While I honestly thought it would sell worse, I gotta agree that 500k doesn’t exactly scream “major success” when it comes to hardware

[Vits]

@"--Onilink--"

For sure, at this point, I would be surprised if the PS5 itself isn't sold at a profit, even if it's not a large one. But the Portal is in a different category altogether. The brains of that machine is an SD662, a 'mid-tier' SoC from 2020, so it's super cheap. The screen is a basic Full HD 60Hz IPS, with no fancy tech like adaptive refresh rate. The Wi-Fi module is a standard 5GHz one, and the controllers are just repurposed DualSense ones.

Putting that all together should come in extremely cheap for Sony. So even accounting for logistics and the retail cut, Sony's profit margins on this should be ridiculous.

[VariantAEC]

I'm guessing it is the DualSense Edge that makes them the most profit per unit sold.

[Baza]

When a product exceeds expectations that’s a success. PSVR2 fell below expectations.

[I_am_Batman]

60 million possible customers is a stretch. It's a niche device. It was never gonna sell much, since the vast majority of PS5 owners have no use for it.

[StoneTitan]

This is just US. It says in the article that ita around 3% of ps5 instalbase. In us alone. So if its 3% worldwide. That makes it around 2 million sold.
Next time read the article maybe

[Neonridr]

I already have a Steam Deck OLED. No way was I paying for a Portal too.

[GamingSinceForever]

1) This article is U.S only
2) It has met Sony’s expectations meaning they weren’t overly optimistic that this thing would sell in the millions.

[ChasterMies]

An accessory only has to make money. It’s not an ecosystem.

[GamingSinceForever]

The portal is why I’m not considering the Pro. I haven’t played my main console in the last two months because picking up the portal has been so convenient. You will forget that you aren’t playing on your main console. There are those occasional times when the internet connection struggles but it only last so long before it goes away.

[gleepot]

is that... a success? thats a 0.9% attachment rate

[gold_drake]

depends if its a success for themselves or not.
we dont rly get to decide that

[Sgt_Slaughter]

They must have had their expectations stupidly low OR the costs of making the device made even a small amount sold a good profit for them.

Either way, I certainly never see anyone using this nor do people talk about it in tech spaces beyond mocking it. Everything I know about the device makes me realize having a phone or a laptop with a controller connected is the better experience. Plus, less chances of stick drift with the controllers I use vs. a DualSense.

[z2g]

Sorry but less than 500,000 sales globally does not seem like a success. The ps5 sells this in a week.

[cloganart]

I really wish it could run in WLAN without having to roundback from Online.

[cbuc1125]

Don't forget the Portal got the same negative press the 5 Pro is currently getting. Funny how that turned out.

[CrimsonWing69]

Did anyone complain about the price?

[RaiderNation]

Do you want a powerful console or a cheaper console? Because you can't have both! You have to pick your "poison" so to speak and the great news is you CAN. I'd love to know what all you keyboard experts think a reasonable price should be for what's going to be the most powerful console on the market.

[CrimsonWing69]

@RaiderNation

I’m just gonna drop some info on ya’. I’m not looking to go to war with you. I get how you’re defensive for a brand you’re passionate about. I was just adding a comment that differentiates the reaction to the Portal vs the Pro.

As for price look at this:

PS3 launch: $599

PS4 launch: $299
PS4 Pro: $399

PS5 launch: $499
PS5 Pro: $699… add $80 for a disc drive to play your physical games… oh and I think $40 for a stand, which both of those were included in the $499 PS5 base model.

So really, if you want a true comparison:

PS5: $499

(And the equivalent to that including drive and stand) PS5 Pro: $819

And check this out:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ga...

A faster PC with better components for close to the same price.

So, let’s think this through. If a better PC costs the same, what then should the PS5 Pro cost?

Well, if I’m looking at Sony’s past with a mid gen upgrade including a drive being $100 more and for the same cost of the PS5 Pro you can make a better PC, I’d f*cking say the price should be $100 more including the damn disc drive like in the PS4 Pro and including the stand.

What’s your keyboard expertise on what the price should be? I’m really intrigued to know.