PlayStation Portal - Release Date, Price, And Everything We Know About Sony's New PlayStation Handheld

At long last, Sony has a new handheld gaming console on the way. Kind of. Revealed at the PlayStation Showcase in May, the PlayStation Portal is a streaming device that can transmit PS5 games directly from the console and onto its screen. Sony is entering cloud gaming territory that Microsoft has had a major presence in for years, but Sony has its work cut out for it when it comes to marketing this hardware and convincing consumers as to why it's better than a tablet or smartphone using Remote Play and a Bluetooth-tethered controller.

Release date and price

Sony has confirmed that the PlayStation Portal will launch on November 15, priced at $199. Preorders are now live at PlayStation Direct. For comparison, a Nintendo Switch OLED model has an MSRP of $350, a Steam Deck starts from $500, and Logitech's G Cloud gaming handheld console is usually $350.

Where to preorder the PlayStation Portal

Several retailers have opened up preorders for the Portal, but you'll want to move fast as these sell out very quickly. You can grab a preorder at Walmart, Best Buy, and GameStop for $200 ahead of the November 15 release date of this handheld streaming device.

PlayStation Portal specs

Since it's streaming from a PS5 using remote play, PlayStation Portal doesn't need to field fancy internals that'll keep the Asus ROG Ally awake at night. What we do know is that it has an 8-inch HD LCD screen, which is a whole inch more than what the Steam Deck offers. The display is 1080p with a 60Hz refresh rate, which should help render a sharp image at that screen size factor.

Sony has also made an odd decision not to include Bluetooth functionality on the PlayStation Portal, but it does have built-in speakers and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Because it's a streaming-only device, it has no Micro SD port.

As for the battery, you'll get around three to four hours of play time from a full charge, which isn't too surprising. The other noticeable part of the PlayStation Portal's build is the controller, which looks like a DualSense that has been chopped in half and attached to each display side. The only thing missing here is the DualSense touchpad, and it's not clear how those functions will be incorporated into Project Q's design.

Unlike the more integrated designs of the Steam Deck, Switch, and ROG Alloy, this interface sports a DualSense-inspired design and has light piping vertically across each grip. Additionally, it has all of the buttons and features of a DualSense wireless controller.

A recent video leak has also suggested that the PlayStation Portal will run on an Android operating system, with the footage showing off simple menus and QR codes.

How PlayStation Portal works

You'll still need to own a PS5 if you want to use a PlayStation Portal, and any games you want to play on it must be installed on your console. Once you've met those requirements, you can stream games from your PS5 to the handheld console using Remote Play over Wi-Fi. You won't be able to stream virtual reality games through it, so PlayStation VR 2 owners are out of luck here.