Sony Announces PlayStation Portal Player, With Local Gaming Speculation Unconfirmed

PlayStation Portal Player, Digi Mart USA News: Sony has announced the upcoming launch of a new version of its PlayStation Portal, which has been poorly received since its release, with a few previously unseen features expected. Although the manufacturer has not specified what those features are, some users are already speculating that the streaming device could become capable of running games locally.

The PlayStation Portal drew considerable criticism at launch, largely because of Sony’s 100% cloud-based strategy. Many had hoped for a worthy successor to the PS Vita, but Sony instead offered a streaming device that requires a powered-on PS5.

Since then, the device has improved somewhat, with the ability to launch games directly from Sony’s cloud and the promise of a new portable PlayStation arriving alongside the PS6.

In the meantime, the PS Portal remains widely criticized, prompting Sony to take steps to limit the damage. In a press release published Monday, November 9, Sony announced the launch of a new version of the PlayStation Portal, which has been given a new name for the occasion: the PlayStation Portal Player.

Beyond that, little is known about it.

At present, the only confirmed change is that this new version will offer more storage space. This may seem minor, but it is significant for a device designed primarily to run games remotely.

Sony states that the additional storage was added “in anticipation of future features,” without specifying which features it refers to.

The company promises to share news on this soon, but for now it has remained silent. Whether the PlayStation Portal Player will eventually be able to run applications locally, or even games, remains uncertain.

It is possible that such applications could themselves be streaming platforms such as Netflix or YouTube.

The PlayStation Portal Player will be available on December 10, initially only in Japan and South Korea.