Sony has just officially announced a hardware update to its streaming peripheral for PS5. Expected on December 10 exclusively in Japan and South Korea, the new PlayStation Portal Player drops the “Remote” designation and includes internal storage memory whose capacity remains secret. While some dreamy optimists mention the arrival of an offline mode, the onboard processor prevents any local execution of PS5 games, instead directing this space toward Cloud Gaming or multimedia applications.
Sony is launching on the Japanese and Korean markets a new version of its portable PlayStation Portal, with a hardware addition that is at the very least surprising. An integration that suggests this remote-play device could soon go beyond its basic role, so far strictly limited to local [abc]streaming[/abc] of PS5 games from its own console. On December 10, the PlayStation Portal Player will in fact be launched, in Japan and South Korea only, a new variant of Sony’s “fake” handheld console. And along the way, the device officially drops the word “Remote” from its name.
What good is storage for streaming?
The new arrival, available in the single Midnight Black colorway, looks almost identical to the original model, with one detail (and a big one) changed: the inclusion of internal storage memory. What is the point of adding disk space to a device limited to streaming? Even Sony remains evasive on the subject, merely explaining on its official blog that this option will make it possible to roll out “future features”.
The mirage of offline play
Although the exact capacity of this built-in memory has not been disclosed, imagination quickly ran wild online: it was said that this space would allow games to be downloaded and thus played offline, bringing the Portal Player closer to a true portable console. Nonsense! One must not forget the heart of the machine: the PlayStation Portal relies on a modest Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 SoC processor. A chip typical of the low-end mobile phone world, notoriously anemic and utterly incapable of calculating and displaying the slightest polygon of a PS5 title natively.
Beware strict regional locking
Finally, note that this PlayStation Portal Player will be sold at the same price as the original Portal, but it is technically locked to the regions in which it will be marketed. It requires a Japanese or Korean PSN account. Importing it is therefore strongly discouraged, or you may end up with an expensive paperweight on your hands.
Availability announced for December 10 in Japan and South Korea at the suggested retail price of 39,980 yen (about 228 euros). No release date or pricing has been announced for Europe.
Reminder of the key specifications of the PlayStation Portal Player :
• Screen : [abc]LCD[/abc] 8'' (20.32 cm)
• Resolution : [abc]1,080p[/abc] at 60 frames per second
• Connectivity : [abc]Wi-Fi[/abc]
• Ergonomics : integrated DualSense controller features (haptic feedback and adaptive triggers)
• New feature : integration of internal storage memory (capacity not disclosed)
• Finish : Midnight Black
• Specificity : region-locked model requiring a Japanese or Korean PSN account