According to Neowin, Sony has just launched Cloud Streaming for PS5 games on the PlayStation Portal remote player starting today, November 5 at 6PM PT. This officially graduates from last year’s beta and requires a PlayStation Plus Premium membership to access. Thousands of PS5 games now support streaming at launch, including major titles like Astro Bot, Borderlands 4, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and Fortnite. The PS Portal home screen gets a complete refresh with three dedicated tabs for Remote Play, Cloud Streaming, and Search functionality. New features include 3D audio support, passcode lock security, and the ability to make in-game purchases without leaving streaming sessions. This enables true portability by letting you stream PS5 games anywhere with Wi-Fi, even when your console is off or being used by someone else.
How cloud streaming changes the game
Here’s the thing about this launch – it fundamentally changes what the PlayStation Portal can do. Before today, the device was basically just a Remote Play screen for your existing PS5. You needed your console on and connected to play anything. Now? You can stream directly from Sony’s servers without touching your home console. That’s a massive shift in functionality.
But there are some real technical challenges here. Cloud streaming lives and dies by your internet connection quality. Sony knows this – they’ve even added a quick menu option to check your connection status. The fact they’re pushing 3D audio support suggests they’re confident about the bandwidth requirements, but let’s be real: this isn’t going to work well on hotel Wi-Fi or crowded public networks.
The premium price of entry
So who actually gets to use this? You need both the $200 PlayStation Portal and a PlayStation Plus Premium subscription, which costs $18 monthly or $160 annually. That’s not exactly an impulse purchase for most gamers. But for that price, you’re getting access to thousands of games without needing to download them or manage storage space.
The simultaneous use feature is actually pretty clever though. While you’re streaming Borderlands 4 from the cloud, someone else can be using your actual PS5 console to watch Netflix or play under their own account. That eliminates the family arguments over who gets the TV and the console. Basically, your Portal becomes a second PS5 without needing to buy another $500 console.
gaming-s-future”>What this means for gaming’s future
Look, Sony’s playing catch-up here. Microsoft’s xCloud has been doing this for years, and NVIDIA GeForce Now has shown what proper cloud gaming can achieve. But Sony has one massive advantage: their exclusive game library. Being able to stream titles like Ghost of Yōtei and God of War Ragnarök instantly? That’s compelling.
The real question is whether this will actually work smoothly at scale. Cloud gaming has always struggled with latency, especially for fast-paced games. If Sony can deliver a solid experience, this could be the beginning of them moving toward a more service-oriented future. But if it’s laggy and unreliable? Well, let’s just say gamers have short patience for streaming that doesn’t stream well.
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