Gamer Gets Cool Surprise Will Their PlayStation Portal

A fortunate shopper recently experienced a delightful surprise upon receiving their PlayStation Portal in the mail. Despite the mixed reviews surrounding Sony’s innovative PlayStation 5 accessory, the product has witnessed notable success since its launch on November 15, with sales soaring during the initial post-launch period.

Even during the pre-order phase, the PlayStation Portal enjoyed impressive sales, quickly depleting stock in various global markets. While the product’s niche appeal may have been apparent initially, PlayStation enthusiasts worldwide eagerly sought Sony’s latest offering, marking the company’s first foray into handheld gaming since the PS Vita.

Sony sent me 2 Playstation Portal
byu/SLR-1219 inplaystation

One such enthusiast, Reddit user SLR-1219, shared their early Christmas joy on the PlayStation subreddit. Having secured a pre-order for the PlayStation Portal back in September, they were perplexed when the transaction seemingly vanished from their account. After placing a second order, assuming all was in order, the real surprise unfolded on the day of delivery. Instead of a single tracking link, they received two, and to their astonishment, two PlayStation Portals greeted them at their doorstep. Remarkably, they discovered they had only been charged for one, a fortunate turn of events just in time for the impending Black Friday festivities.

While comparisons between Sony’s handheld and competitors like the Nintendo Switch, Valve Steam Deck, and ASUS ROG Ally abound, its true kin appears to be the Logitech G Cloud, released in late 2022. Despite both products positioning themselves as portable gateways to cloud gaming, the PlayStation Portal adopts a more streamlined approach, lacking features such as Bluetooth connectivity, media playback, or a functional web browser.

Nevertheless, the early triumph of the PlayStation Portal underscores the dynamic evolution of the gaming market and the potential significance of cloud gaming in the industry’s future. Despite the premature demise of Google Stadia, the popularity of remote play-centric devices like the PlayStation Portal and Backbone suggests that Google’s vision for Stadia might not have been off the mark—it simply arrived too soon. Gamers, it seems, weren’t quite ready to fully embrace a cloud-based gaming platform at that time.