Even Sony has been surprised by PlayStation Portal’s success

The success of the PlayStation Portal has caught many off guard and even members of the Sony hierarchy have been left surprised by the popularity of the console.

First announced in May 2024, the approach led to plenty of confusion given the fact it was not a dedicated handheld console and was instead a streaming device using a WiFi connection from a PS5, leading to expectations that it would appeal to a very niche market—but that hasn’t been the case.

Instead, finding stock for the PlayStation Portal has been a significant challenge for consumers, bringing back unfond memories of the release of the PS5 and Xbox Series X, with the success catching many off guard.

It turns out that even Sony itself has been surprised by the success of PlayStation Portal, with PlayStation’s VP of product management Hiromi Wakai telling GameFile on Feb. 26 that “demand has continued to exceed our expectations.”

Sony’s approach with the PlayStation Portal was seen as odd, given it appeared to transition away from the handheld roots the company established over the past two decades with the PSP and PS Vita. But the reaction after the announcement was in line with what Sony expected.

Wakai admitted the Portal was a console designed for people with “specific needs” and those who wanted to play in a “specific way,” thus the reactions after the reveal were “very much within our expectations”—and there have been reports that Sony will return to the handheld market with a new device.

Perhaps the biggest success story of the PlayStation Portal is Wakai’s reveal that the most popular games to play on the device included EA Sports FC, Call of Duty, Fortnite, and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, which correlates with the biggest games on PlayStation overall.

The fact that players choose to play those titles on the PlayStation Portal and not save them for times when they are sat on their PS5 shows that the Portal has done its job of being a credible alternative for gamers.