2y ago

PlayStation Portal Is Out Today, But Fans Are Having a Hard Time Finding One - IGN

www.ign.com

PlayStation Portal is out but trying to find one is about as arduous as trying to buy a PS5 in late 2020.

49 comments

low demand low supply
- I’d say low supply but higher than expected demand. If it were low demand, people wouldn’t be having a problem getting one.
  
  Artificial scarcity is a thing.
- I know people want to implicitly shit on this thing because they don't personally want one, and I guess they don't want other people to enjoy them, but come on, this is silly. You know none of that. You just wish it was that.
  Honestly, this place was great for a while, but it's very rapidly devolving into the vapid reddit style comments you see all over that place.
  
  I don't know if that's a fair criticism. I think I first saw something about this thing yesterday. Not much of a marketing push. I had to look it up to see what the heck it is. It seems to have a very specific and narrow use case. I'm sure it's a nice option for people with that need and works well enough, but it's not exactly something the masses are clamoring for. There's similar tech out there and they are sort of niche products. I don't expect this thing to be selling like hotcakes.
  
  Others have said it already, but it's the best way to describe it. It's literally just a screen with a controller attached. You can only use it for remote play on a PlayStation console at home. It doesn't offer cloud gaming and it doesn't allow you to even connect to WiFi networks that require you to sign on in a browser before gaining access to the Internet because the thing doesn't even have a browser included in the software. The only common use case I could see for this thing is if you're going to a friend's house as a teen and want to play online games while in person.
  Even then, as a parent I would much rather just spend the extra money on a steamdeck or other handheld that has compute and actual software. This is a ripe $200 turd that hardcore PlayStation fans and overzealous scalpers are buying.
  
  That's not a reddit thing though. People make one-offish comments everywhere. Maybe not in your inner circle specifically but in general i've seen a lot of forums and chat rooms growing up that are like that.
I feel like I just heard about this device 2 days ago. They didn't seem to market it very hard.
- I heard about it for the first time when I saw this post/article today.
Do they realize this is just a PS5 remote terminal and nothing else?
- yes, that is what i want. I've wanted for years. no using my phone or a tablet isn't a good experience to answer the next comment.
  
  may I ask how is a phone or tablet not a good experience I've slapped a controller to my phone to do it before and have had a great experience
- It's a PS U (wii u wannabe).
Who even wants one
- Honestly I would have said me a few years ago.
  The PSP was a AMAZING system. Not because of the games. But because it was such a great system for emulation.
  But this is a post Steam Deck world.
  
  But this doesn't even do what a PSP does. It doesn't play games natively, it just streams from your PS5 that you already have to own.
  It's essentially the Wii U.
- Wii U is a better console than the PS5 in part because of the game pad (not power wise)
  This helps close the gap although the Wii U still comes out ahead
So this is like if the Switch charged you an extra $200 for the hand-held part?
This will be either hugely successful or will die an awful death and develop a PS Vita cult following.
- There won't be a cult because this is no standalone device you can hack or play games on without a PS5.
  
  Wasn't based on Android? I mean... Somebody could eventually run something on there not big games that's for sure.
This is just an Nvidia Shield - right?
- No, that would mean it can be used on it's own. It's literally a dumb terminal for the ps5 and nothing more.
- More like the Wii-U gamepad I think.
- It's worse. Much much worse
Low demand product and are creating hype going into the holidays. I wish this was another PSP or Vita both of which I bought at release but this is not it. If I could play my PS5 games not streaming that would be amazing but it’s a streaming device that is needs WiFi connectivity. I am not expecting PS5 level of performance out of it based on the size and cost of this product. I really wonder who their target audience is and what market research they used for this one!
How long you think it will take before we start seeing people posting pictures with the controller broken off, that doesn't look very sturdy when you're raging at someone.

49 comments