The PlayStation Portal is a pure streaming device and is therefore controversial. A trio has now managed to install real games on the device. However, one is likely far from official PS5 games. This is mainly due to the technology used.
The Sony PlayStation Portal is a handheld device that looks like a portable game console but is not designed to be a standalone device. Instead, Sony markets the Portal as a PlayStation 5 companion, allowing users to stream PS5 games from their home console. Therefore, a real installation of games or apps is not possible.
A small group of hackers has now figured out how to run apps natively on the PlayStation Portal. However, they are still far from “market readiness.”
Older games from the PS Vita or PSP era can be installed on the handheld
The colleagues from Liliputing report that a trio of people has spent “more than a month” hacking the PlayStation Portal to run PPSSPP, a PlayStation Portable emulator. This was shared by Andy Nguyen, who goes online as @theflow0.
In this way, older games from the PS Vita or PSP era can be installed on the device. Nguyen also demonstrates this with several images. But what does the future hold for real PS5 games?
The hardware of the PlayStation Portal is likely too weak for real PS5 games
Can you play PS5 games on it? The biggest problem with the PlayStation Portal is indeed the performance. The PlayStation Portal was never officially designed to run real games. Therefore, Sony did not consider using powerful hardware in the PlayStation Portal. For streaming, you only need a relatively weak chip.
Even though the trio has now succeeded in installing apps natively on the device, real PS5 games are unlikely to run fully on the PlayStation Portal. The hardware is probably just too weak for that.
Sony itself reveals surprisingly little about the hardware in the PlayStation Portal. It was only in one of many teardown videos that it became clear that Sony installed a Snapdragon SG4150P processor and uses an Android-based operating system. According to Andy Nguyen, the internal memory is said to be 6 GB and is not expandable.
Recommended gaming handhelds: If you really want to play on the go and mobile, we would recommend a real gaming handheld instead. The best handhelds you can currently buy are listed in our list directly on MeinMMO:
