Summary
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Sony plans to introduce new features to the PS Portal in the future.
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Like the recently added ability to stream games from the cloud instead of the PS5, future features of the handheld will be influenced by user feedback.
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Although Sony has yet to share any specific sales figures, third-party estimates suggest that PS Portal sold around 650,000 units in the US alone during its first year on the market.
The PlayStation Portal will get some new features in the future, a senior Sony official revealed. This confirmation comes from a recent interview that also shed more light on how the popular PlayStation device gained the ability to function as a standalone console.
November 15th was the first anniversary of the release of PS Portal. The gadget was originally marketed as a PS5 accessory that allowed users to stream games from the home console. But in late November 2024, Sony introduced experimental support for playing games on the PS Portal without a PS5 by streaming them directly from the cloud.

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The decision to add this feature didn't come overnight, but it's been in Sony's sights for a long time. That's according to Hiromi Wakai, SIE's vice president of product management, who said this in a recent interview with Game File. “The ability to stream cloud games has always been in our plan since early development,” explained Wakai. Be that as it may, the decision to finally add it was motivated in part by post-launch feedback from PS Portal users, many of whom wanted cloud streaming support, the executive said.
More PS Portal features are on the way
Wakai explained that Sony “wanted to be extra careful” to deliver the best possible experience from day one, which is why some features, including cloud gaming support, were missing at launch. Sony is now eager to continue this approach and continually improve the PS Portal based on user feedback, the SIE official said, confirming that even more post-launch features are on the way. Even cloud gaming support is likely to improve in the foreseeable future, as it's currently still in beta and only works with the 120 titles that are part of the PS Plus Premium catalog – a fraction of the PS5's library.
The ability to stream cloud games has always been in our plan since the year [PS Portal’s] early development stage.
Wakai's promise of new features echoes what PlayStation co-head Hideaki Nishino told the BBC in early December 2024 when he said Sony was adamant about continuing to improve the PS Portal. Although the company has yet to share any official sales figures, Circana's September 2024 market report estimates that around 3% of PS5 owners in the state have purchased PS Portal. This projection suggests that the device sold around 650,000 units in the US alone during its first 10 months on the market. The recently added ability to stream games without a PS5 is likely to make the PS Portal even more compelling to potential buyers.
While PS5 accessories will maintain their strong momentum from Year 1 going forward, it's still doubtful whether Sony will ultimately entertain the idea of a direct successor. According to a November 2024 Bloomberg report, PlayStation is currently working on another standalone handheld device in the vein of the PS Vita that would be capable of playing PS5 games. Since such a gadget would inevitably have hardware capabilities for cloud streaming, it could end up replacing the PS Portal if ever commercialized.
Source: GameDev Reports