PlayStation Portal is a huge success – but fans are furious about what Sony is doing

IF you have tried to buy the PlayStation Portal since it was released in November, you have likely encountered a problem.

The PS5 accessory has broken through all of PlayStation’s expectations, and it’s difficult to find one in stock.

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People have had to set up apps to alert them when stores have the handheld in stock, and even then they have just a few minutes before it’s out of stock again.

While the global chip shortage seems to be a thing of the past, the lack of stock comes down to Sony not expecting the Portal to be this popular.

Many were hoping to wait until after the holiday period in order to grab their handheld, but it seems that the Portal remains as popular and elusive as ever.

It is likely that Sony understocked the Portal as PlayStation’s last dedicated handheld system, the PlayStation Vita, failed to meet expectations in 2012.

However, it was not the console itself or gamers’ distaste for portable gaming that was the cause, but the price point.

Not only was the Vita far more expensive than its competitor, the Nintendo 3DS, but it had expensive proprietary memory cards making it even less affordable.

Sony blamed people’s lack of interest in handheld gaming for the console’s financial failure and moved its attention to what was thought to be the future of gaming, VR.

However, VR still remains a niche market, and while sales improve year on year, it will be a long time before VR headsets are a must-have gaming accessory.

Nintendo once again showed PlayStation just how popular handheld gaming can be as the hybrid console, the Nintendo Switch, swiftly became the second best-selling console of all time.

Even though the Portal only streams games from the PS5 and cannot play games by itself, it has still shown people just how popular handheld gaming is.

PS VR2 sales have floundered, showing that the popularity of gaming accessories is more linked to price than it is to the medium.

At £200/$200, the Portal is far more affordable than VR, and allows PS5 owners to play their favourite games even when the TV is in use.

Fans hope that the Portal’s success shows PlayStation the path forward and that another PS handheld could be on the horizon.

If you want to read more about PlayStation, check out the upcoming State of Play.

Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.