The PlayStation Portal remote player experience to evolve with new system update

PlayStation Plus Premium members will have access to test Cloud Streaming (Beta) for select PS5 games on Game Catalog.

[The_Hooligan]

I have been waiting for this update. I hope Bluetooth audio support is next.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

No Bluetooth.

[Cacabunga]

I have been waiting for this update to buy one.
I ended up buying one a few months ago and loving it.. now this sexy thing just became even more relevant than ever..
Streaming from cloud is a great value.

[Kyizen]

That requires a chip that is just not in the Portal to function

[The_Hooligan]

Oh ok. I did not know that. Thats a bummer.

[anast]

You will have to buy a Sony product for that: the Pulse 3D.

[Abnor_Mal]

Cool

[Knushwood Butt]

I was streaming Resistance 3 to my PS5 over WiFi last night. I was pretty impressed. Yes, there were a few momentary freezes, some of which may have been caused by a microwave oven, but overall pretty good, and Resistance 3 is pretty hectic.
On another note, I'd forgotten how intense Resistance 3 is. The first four opening chapters don't let up much. That fight with the big gorilla-like chimera with all the debris flying around from the terraformer is pretty wild. Props to Insomniac.

[Storm23]

Love those games. Proper PS5 remakes and/or Resistance 4 would be sick...

[Knushwood Butt]

Yeah, I'd buy a PS5 remake of the first three day 1, and a 4th entry would be cool.
I was remembering last night that, wow, PS3 was pretty awesome. Surely Insomniac could knock it out of the park with Resistance 4 on PS5. Come up with a decent story and lead, multiplayer based on the PVP and PVE from 1 and 2.

[Knushwood Butt]

'even without a PS5 console'

Interesting.

[OtterX]

Well yea, makes sense. You wouldn't double stream the games and also the console. Go straight to the source and stream the games directly from PSN... and that's friggin' awesome. Been hoping they would do this!

My biggest hope is that the entire PS3 section becomes streamable soon.

[darthv72]

Looks like i will be upgrading my membership to premium.

[Eonjay]

Took them longer than expected but this was the goal all along. The real value in Plus Premium is the ability to play without having to buy a PS5. This little device is about to blow up again.

[darthv72]

do you think this idea will hurt their bottom line? I mean people mock XB for saying you dont need the console... and here is Sony doing pretty much the same thing with their own device. In both cases you dont need the actual console unless you want to stream your own games from it. Otherwise a subscription that offers cloud access is all you need. For XB it is game pass ultimate, for PS it is PS+ premium.

[Eonjay]

I think there were definitely concerns about the bottom line and Sony stated that they were not making a profit on the portal. However, one imagines that they are not making a massive profit on the PS5 knowing what we know about material costs. This extends to the Pro as well as it was revealed that they are developing it on the 4nm process (which in and of itself explain the cost and the modest power usage). You are correct to point out that people mocking Microsoft are actually ignoring that Sony is in fact headed in a similar direction. The difference is that the PlayStation hardware is still selling and there is no cost benefit to shifting away from it in the same way that Microsoft may be incentivized to do so. Plus, there is no evidence at this point that Sony is willing to open up its platform to other vendors. The Portal seems to indicate the opposite.

But the real kicker here is that both companies are diving head first into subscribtion models. In the case ofthe portal, the intial investment is the cheapest console form factor on offer even beating the Series S, but the $300 you save from not needing a PS5 is ultimately returned to them in about 2 and a half years in the form of subscribtion payments.

in addition to offering a game catalog (admittedly large one like 700 games to stream) you will be able to purchase games on PS5 and stream those as well. So depending on your gaming habits, you will ultimately be spending the same amount you would have if you bought a PS5. What we should expect is for many Plus subscribers to upgrade to the Premium tier.

But to bring it back to your first question, no their bottom line is not hurt. In fact, this ensures growth and, from a pure business perspective, we have to admit this was an execellently executed plan. I think their plan is better than Microsoft's because by linking it their branded hardware, they ensure the survival of the PlayStation home console for the foreseeable future. Oponions will vary of course.

[darthv72]

i just looked into upgrading the remainder of my sub and it wasn't even $5 for the next 65 days. That gives me plenty of time to try this out and see if its worth renewing (it prob will be).

[Abnor_Mal]

I’ve been planning to pull out my PS3 and replay Killzone2&3, and a few other games. I wouldn’t lmind playing them on the Portal if possible,

[mudakoshaka]

If you have the games on your PS5, it is possible. Over cloud, only PS5 games.

[StoneTitan]

There are also ps1 and ps2 games. They just need to have gotten a release on ps4/5.
There are ps1,2,4 and 5 games. The only one missing are ps3 games for now.
Of course its just beta for now. Bit the whole ps+ catalogue will be on there for sure

[LemyAtom]

I hope this also starts opening the door for PS3 game streaming, as that's the only console not able to be played on Portal.

[Firebird360]

I'm gonna need to upgrade my plus. I spend a fair amount of time remote playing my ps5 on my steam deck. Id love to try this.

[shadowT]

PS5 not required

[BlackDoomAx]

Update the lag and the screen stuttering first...

[MaximusPrime_]

You need a better router

[BlackDoomAx]

You need to better inform you: https://gprivate.com/6ecju
But apparently latest update solved it, but I'll wait to test it.

[BlackDoomAx]

So... https://www.reddit.com/r/Pl...

[kayoss]

Me personally, i havent experienced any lag or screen stuttering. Ive been using my PS Portal to play Wukong when traveling for work.

[BlackDoomAx]

It doesn't mean it doesn't exist, it's just you don't see it: https://gprivate.com/6ecju

But apparently latest update solved it, but I'll wait to test it.

[BlackDoomAx]

Hmm... https://www.reddit.com/r/Pl...

[northpaws]

It is your Internet not their servers.

[BlackDoomAx]

Wrong, inform yourself: https://gprivate.com/6ecju
But apparently latest update solved it, but I'll wait to test it.

[BlackDoomAx]

Well... https://www.reddit.com/r/Pl...

[sci4me]

Its from your end. Been playing from different countries all year using both wifi and mobile hotspots without any major issues. Need 20mbp+ though for best experince-

[gold_drake]

it runs surprisingly well, i had some hiccups but nothing super major

[XBManiac]

It has sold far more than expected... and holiday season is here. Good move, Sony.

[MaximusPrime_]

Just updated my PS Portal and upgraded to PS Plus Premium (from Extra)

Preliminary verdict on Cloud gaming via PS Portal, very good.

Briefly played 2 games
G Police (PS1)
Ride 5 (PS5)

Experience zero lags. Flawless.

I will test again later today when there are more WiFi usage.

It's a good start, Sony. Looking forward to more games added to the list.

[Eonjay]

And the vast majority of new Digital games you buy on PSN support streaming. So it will be usable with the games you own too eventually not just from the Plus catalog.

[MaximusPrime_]

Thanks. That's great to hear.

[darthv72]

I can provide you a consensus for the XB side of things for reference. I use the logitech g-cloud for streaming and just like the portal it offers local streaming as well as cloud streaming. It has been very good for both. Little to no discernible lag as it is very responsive.

Now the key to making it all work is of course the internet you use. in your own home is going to be very different than out in public. So naturally people will ask why stream in your own home when you can just go play locally... sometimes you just want to play somewhere else in your home. In my case my game room is cluttered with all sorts of stuff from a remodel I am doing. so i cant just go in and play. Thankfully there is streaming.

I was streaming Plucky Squire and Sackboy big adventure last night to my portal.

[Petebloodyonion]

So The evil PeteBloodyonion was right when he said that the Portal was Sony's Trojan Horse to establish a cloud console back in 2023 as I recall saying that having the server in the next room was just a way to make ppl comfortable and the next step would be to move away the server.

I also recall the ppl trying to explain to me that this wasn't a CLOUD console as it was using remote access

Now, it seems everyone is aware that Sony intended to create a cloud-only console, and I'll likely be labeled as irrational again when I suggest that Sony aims to phase out the PlayStation Streaming app on tablets and phones (For PS6), making the Portal the exclusive screen

[HansyJ]

I use my steam deck through Chiaki for remote play to my PlayStation five and it is fantastic

[Amplitude]

Honestly though, how did this (a) not launch with this, and (b) take so unbelievably long to come?
It's like they have one intern supporting this thing on his lunch breaks.

[DivineHand125]

Finally, they have this feature available as it should have been there at launch. The only negative is that you need a $18 per month subscription to utilize this feature. The pricing is cheaper than Game Pass Ultimate and GeForce Now Ultimate and if you already have ps premium then this feature is a huge win.

[Amplitude]

I mean, GeForce Now is infinitely better than this, though.
The streaming quality, the lag, the 240fps options and the fact that you're playing games on an RTX 4080 machine (Cyberpunk path tracing!) makes the comparison a bit nuts. GamePass also comes with *way* more games than the handful of PS5 games this supports (Why the heck cant you stream PS3/PS4 games or games you've purchased???)

Look, i love Sony, but as far as streaming goes they're by far the worst of the major players in quite literally every possible way other than price (and just barely). It's felt like a beta product for 10 years now. I'll get disagree bombed since this is N4G but this has been proven numerous times by tech YouTubers and in particular Digital Foundry.

[anast]

Sony beat Xbox in the streaming race.