However, since cloud streaming for Portal is in beta, many features are missing. Users will not be able to play “streaming games purchased from the PS Store”, only those included in the Premium catalog that depends on the subscription, and is restricted to PS5 titles; PS3 and PS4 games are explicitly excluded, which seems a bit strange.
Game testing is also blocked, as are some system features, such as group voice chat, 3D audio support, or “in-game trading.” It’s probably good to leave that last one aside for now; The last thing anyone wants is a connection drop that could ruin a DLC transaction involving real money.
Sony says games can be streamed in Full HD quality up to 1080p at 60fps, and saved data can also be transferred via the cloud. However, “up to” is key: you’ll need a minimum of 5Mbps upload/download speed to even establish a cloud gaming session, with 720p quality requiring a minimum of 7Mbps and 1080p requiring 13Mbps Realistically, based on similar game streaming services and Portal’s own performance even on a home network, it is expected that even higher speeds will be needed for a viable experience.
End of the console era?
What’s particularly interesting here is the timing. Portal, as launched, was essentially an evolution of it. Remote play feature that Sony has been offering in various incarnations for decades: the PSP used the first version of the technology to connect to the PS3 in 2006, followed by the PS Vita pairing with the PS3 and PS4.
Today, almost any device with a screen, an internet connection, and a paired controller can use Remote Play to mirror your PS5; Portal was just a dedicated kit to do that. The introduction of cloud gaming may make Portal a bit more feature-rich, but it may also signal a growing trend among console makers to leave consoles behind entirely.
Take Sony’s gaming archrival Microsoft, for example: its current marketing push is that almost anything “is an Xbox.” Much of that depends on accessing Xbox services “with the help of Cloud Gaming,” turning any device with a screen, an Internet connection, and a paired controller (sound familiar?) into an Xbox.
Meanwhile, Nintendo has allowed certain games to launch on the Switch as cloud-only titles, and while this is generally limited to titles that are typically too demanding or too large for the Switch to run natively (such as Resident of the bad town either Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy), shows that even the notoriously conservative Japanese company is not averse to at least experimenting with games that only exist in the ether.