Game news The PS Portal of the PS5, a hit? Even Sony can’t believe it
After its confusing announcement at PlayStation Showcase 2023, we saw everything and its opposite circulating on PlayStation Portal. Is the accessory a success? Even if Sony does not have figures to share, the Japanese company has information to communicate.
Divide and rule
At the time of the first tests, the PlayStation Portal intrigued professionals in the world of video games. Described as a design machine “a little clumsy”, “poorly connected”, having a screen “less pleasant than that of the Switch OLED” for questionable usefulness, it was also described as “comfortable”, “bright”, for hardware that “excels in its niche”. For our part, we said that it was a beautiful object above all designed for people discovering Remote Play and wishing to dedicate a device in its own right to it without encroaching on everyday IT tools.
“It is neither a portable console nor a revolutionary tool for Remote Play (…). As it stands, it is impossible to justify such a purchase.” we wrote in our conclusion. “The PlayStation Portal is a strangely limited device that would have made more sense ten years ago, when the Wii U was released and was comparable in concept” noted PCMag in its test. Released on November 15, 2023 and sold at the recommended price of 219.99 euros, PlayStation Portal quickly got forgotten in the news. Sony’s silence suggested that sales of the accessory did not meet the objectives set by the group.
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A not-so-small audience?
“Why does PlayStation Portal exist?” worried The Verge when testing the accessory. VGC, for its part, believed that the device was intended “to a restricted audience”. Maybe not so restricted after all! If we base ourselves on a recent interview broadcast on Game File, the PlayStation Portal would in fact be a victim of its success. Regularly out of stock, it would have even exceeded the expectations of the Japanese group. “Although we do not have figures to report, demand has continued to exceed our expectations” Hiromi Wakai, vice president of product management at PlayStation, told Stephen Totilo. As Game File points out, this indication is the first given by Sony regarding the success of PlayStation Portal since its launch. We will therefore have to make do with this timid official information.
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