The PlayStation Portal handheld is gradually gaining some independence from the PlayStation 5 games console. Launched as a limited Remote Play device that required wireless connection to the physical console, Sony is now making gaming more versatile thanks to cloud integration.
First Sony added compatibility with certain PlayStation Plus library titles streamed over the cloud on PlayStation Portal and today Sony has launched the ability to stream games you own over the cloud too.
In a blog post today, Sony said thousands of games users own are now available to be streamed provided its accompanied by a PlayStation Plus Premium membership. Top titles like Astro Bot, Borderlands 4, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Fortnite, Ghost of Yōtei, Grand Theft Auto V, and Resident Evil 4 are part of the lauch. You can see the full list of streamable games here:
Sony is extolling the virtues of the roll out and says it unlocks new ways to play: “Enjoy a game side-by-side with a friend who’s using your PS5 under a separate account, or stream your favourite game while someone else watches a movie on the console,” the company says in a blog post
“Cloud Streaming also makes it easier to enjoy PS5 games on the go – at a hotel, café, friend’s place, or anywhere else with a high-speed internet Wi-Fi connection – since you can keep playing even when your PS5 console back home is powered off or is in use by another account.”
It’s not quite in line with Microsoft’s Xbox Anywhere strategy, where not owning a console is no barrier to playing the biggest and best Xbox games, but it’s a step in the right direction.
It’s not quite a handheld PS5 or the fabled Vita 2, but it is very much getting closer to that eventuality. Conceivably now, you can buy the PlayStation Portal for a couple of hundred bucks, get a PS Plus Premium membership, enjoy games from that library, and digitally buy the games you want to play without the need for a PS5 console at all. I’ve read the find print and nowhere does it say a PS5 console is a prerequisite to do any of that.
