The PlayStation Portal’s latest firmware update, which went live a few hours ago, finally addresses one of the biggest issues that has impacted the system since its launch last year.
The 4.0 update, which also introduces the Cloud Streaming beta that expands the system’s functionality by allowing PlayStation Plus Premium members to play select streaming games for PlayStation 5 on the console, also introduced some unspecified system software performance and stability improvements. According to multiple online reports, these improvements are far from being minimal, as with the new firmware update, Sony finally addressed the widely reported micro stuttering issues that the vast majority of users experienced on the PlayStation Portal since launch.
With a single firmware update, Sony managed to improve the system considerably, as the streaming quality issues and the lack of cloud gaming support were undoubtedly the PlayStation Portal’s biggest issues that prevented it from being a much more appealing system. You can learn more about what the console did great right from launch in Kai’s review.
The PlayStation Portal isn’t quite the portable successor that players have been asking for from Sony since the decline of the PlayStation Vita. That being said, the PlayStation Portal does one job and does it exceedingly well. It might not reinvent the remote play experience, but for those relying on controller clips to mount a phone to the top of a DualSense controller or third-party controllers that use a mobile device as the display, an official Sony product just makes sense for a unified solution. It might not replace those Backbone controllers and other devices that players might have in their home, but the PlayStation Portal might wind up being the controller that players start reaching for first.
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