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Sony's PlayStation Portal has been out for little over a year, but in that time, it's rarely seen any significant discounts. If you want to remote play your PS5 games on the go with the DualSense-shaped gamepad, you generally have to get used to its $200 price tag.
That being said, right now you can pick a 'Used - Like New' version of the PlayStation Portal for $149.88 at Amazon (via Amazon Resale), which saves you 25% off its MSRP of $199.99. Sure, it's not sparkling brand-new, but putting up with the fact that it's a pre-loved version of one of the best PS5 accessories is worth it, especially if it means saving $50 off its full price. After all, this is the cheapest I've ever seen the gaming handheld - in used or new condition. The service ensures it's in full working condition and it arrives in original packaging.
Having an extra $50 in your pocket can also come in handy, as you can grab one of the cheapest PS Plus deals and make use of the recently added Cloud Gaming beta feature. On its own, the PS Portal can remote play your PS5 games, but with a PS Plus membership, you can play some of the game catalogue all without being anywhere near your PS5 console, which has only cemented it as one of my favorite PlayStation peripherals this gen.
Should you buy the PlayStation Portal in 2025?
The PlayStation Portal is a weird thing to recommend, as it's pretty much as niche as PS5 accessories can get. There will only be a small subset of Sony fans that will truly get a kick out of the remote player, and I'm one of them. Yet, as much as I'm clued into the world of Sony hardware, I wish I got mine far sooner than I did.
The older I get, the more I've started to prefer handheld gaming. As much as getting comfy on the sofa with a DualSense in hand is great, curling up with a blanket, a gaming handheld, and YouTube video essays on the TV is even better. If that sounds like the best way to spend an evening, then you'll likely benefit from adding the PS Portal to your gaming setup like I did. The device lets me pick up where I left off with my current gaming obsessions (like Master Detective Archives Rain Code Plus), without the faff of setting up remote play on my laptop or Steam Deck.
Its setup is quick and easy, and so long as you've got a nice stable Wi-Fi connection, your PS5 games will look stunning on the 8” LCD screen. Even with no OLED display, like I was used to with my OLED Switch and OLED Steam Deck, the PS Portal still gives the neon cityscape of Kanai Ward in Rain Code justice. The purple and fluorescent pinks pop and continually manage to impress me, even though I swear by OLED displays with my handhelds. More importantly, while curling up in bed with the device over the easter break, I didn't have to constantly remind myself what buttons are equal to what on the DualSense.
As the PS Portal has everything you'd expect of the controller (minus the touchpad, which has been swapped out with touching the screen), I know exactly what to press. Whenever I've tried to remote play the console on a laptop, I've had to spend ages getting acquainted with the new buttons, even if I've remapped myself. Now, if I need to access the home menu, I just have to press the PlayStation button, just like I would on a normal controller.
The PS Portal isn't just handy for remote playing your current games. Like I briefly mentioned earlier, thanks to a semi-recent update, you can now access your PlayStation Plus game catalogue, so long as your internet is up for the task. Of course, you also need to have an active PS Plus membership to access the games in the first place, but this recent addition has made the PS Portal even more of a qualifier for one of my personal favorite accessories this generation.
Before now, it was essentially just a remote playing device - which I got plenty of use out of regardless, especially as the PS5 is my current-gen platform of choice. Yet now, I can get even more use out of my Premium Plus membership, as a huge list of games can be played, even if I'm nowhere near my PS5. This is why I mentioned before, that the PS Portal isn't for everyone, as it's having access to PS Plus, which truly cemented it as a device I'll pick up over the Steam Deck pretty often.
Sure, not every game in the PS Plus catalogue is available through the cloud streaming feature, which is a bit of a letdown. But as of now, it's still currently in beta, and so I can only hope we'll see more appear over time. Even then, you'll still find everything from Dead Cells, Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart, Death Standing Director's Cut, and Lost Records among the games available to play right now. I prefer to use my Portal mainly to remote play games, but running through the start of the PS1 classic MediEvil on the Portal through the beta feature was an unforgettable moment - especially as I could curl up in bed with my childhood favorite, something unimaginable in the 90s when it originally released.
If you'd rather wait for a discount to hit the Midnight Black version of the remote player, I wouldn't blame you. The second it got announced, I couldn't help but wish I had waited for it instead, especially as its sleek all-black design would fit in nicely with my Steam Deck, and the rest of my modern handheld collection.
However, $50 off the remote player is pretty unheard of, and worth jumping on even for a second-hand unit, and the white design at that. I'm glad I got mine when I did, rather than waiting any longer, as it's meant months upon months of evenings curled up in bed playing my PS5, despite being nowhere near the console. Sure, I could already remote play the Sony console through my laptop, phone, and even my Steam Deck, but the PS Portal means I can enjoy the feeling of one of my favorite PS5 controllers in my hand without any additional faff and set-up frustrations I've had to deal with on other platforms.
If the PlayStation Portal isn't for you, picking up one of the best PS5 controllers, best SSDs for PS5, or the best PS5 headsets can take your Sony gaming sessions up a notch.
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