Right now, I’m spending more time playing games on my PlayStation Portal than I am on my actual PlayStation 5. I’m sure that wasn’t the original intention behind this neat little accessory, yet the folks in charge are still keeping me perfectly settled in their ecosystem. I’ve brought the Portal along to friends’ houses, fired it up during commutes on the bus, and even managed to relax by playing Ball X Pit on the handheld screen while keeping an eye on Great British Menu—or another cooking show—on the main TV. After my shaky first impressions of the device that used to be called Project Q, I’ll admit it: I’m fully on board. I think you probably will be too.
If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know this isn’t my first round of singing the Portal’s praises. Over the past few months, it’s gone from being a rather forgettable Sony oddity to ranking among the more tempting options in the PlayStation catalog. As of November 2025, with the device in hand, you can use Cloud Streaming paired with a PlayStation Plus Premium subscription to effectively skip owning a PS5 altogether while still getting access to a range of major first-party exclusives. Think Astro Bot, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Ghost of Yōtei, Demon’s Souls, and more.
There’s also the option to stream your complete game collection from your home console over to the Portal, and this part doesn’t call for a PS Plus subscription at all. That’s the setup that’s let me sink into quite a bit of time with Screamer, the sharp little arcade racer, usually sprawled in bed with biscuits nearby—while I’m only half-watching Dragon Ball Z on my laptop.
Not long ago, I was genuinely taken aback by the Portal’s initial price. Paying £200 for a device that, at launch, largely meant streaming from your PS5 only if you had excellent home WiFi and a reliable upload speed felt wildly steep. But with it now serving as a genuinely strong portable that can even stand in for a real PS5—provided you’re prepared to get PS Plus—it’s become a straightforward choice.
Beginning on 2nd April—just two days from now—Sony is rolling out meaningful price increases across its PlayStation lineup. The PlayStation Portal is moving from £199.99 to £219.99. It sounds like just a £20 jump, but that sort of change can make more people stop and decide “nah” compared with before. (There’s a lot to unpack in consumer psychology here—if you’ve noticed, it sits at £199 rather than £200 for a reason.) Gaming is likely to keep getting more expensive over the weeks and months ahead, and I truly think picking up a Portal now—while it’s still at its lowest price for a while—is the smarter move.
With the current global backdrop in mind—an AI surge, the Iran conflict, and a memory crisis—there’s still plenty of uncertainty around what people can afford and what will be available in the near future. That’s why I’m glad I already have the Portal. The PS Plus library has enough in it to keep me occupied if I need to stay with this generation longer (which feels more and more likely), and I wouldn’t be able to cover a replacement if my PS5 ever broke. For that reason, the Portal really shines as a solid alternative—even if it doesn’t deliver the premium, high-end gaming experience Sony would rather I get from the PS5 Pro.