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PlayStation Portal has sold out two days after launch | Listings with inflated prices have started to appear online

TVexperto

Member
UK not part of Europe any more? Sold out everywhere here unless you want to pay scalpers

(You may also have trouble in Italy and Germany)

And what do you mean nobody wants to buy this? I have one, many others on here have one, it's sold out in a few countries, so saying nobody wants it is just a flat out lie
i dont understand what you mean by may have trouble..its in stock in mediamarkt in stores...and its even in stock on ps direct here in germany
 

consoul

Member
I managed to get one without a pre-order on day one, but only because MediaMarkt are assholes.

Every game store I visited in Barcelona was sold out or had no stock by mid afternoon on day one, except the nearest MediaMarkt. They had eight of them sitting in a sale bin, each bundled with a screen protector. They had removed the price label from the sign on the top of the sale bin and the bundles had no price tags either.

I grabbed one and joined the "express service" queue to find out what the price actually was. After forty minutes of waiting while the staff fucked around and mostly ignored the growing line of customers, I got served.

The clerk scanned the bundle and asked if I'd like to pay by card. I asked how much it was and he mumbled 280. Two hundred and eighty euros for a device with a recommended retail price of €219. Sixty euros extra for a screen protector! I asked if they could sell me one unbundled. No. They would not. I brought up their own website on my phone, showing the PlayStation Portal listed for €219 and clicked through to show their website saying the store I was standing in had stock at that price that I could click and collect in 30 minutes.

Still no. They would not sell me one for the advertised price. I pushed harder and they told me to go downstairs to the main cashiers and ask them to unbundle it. I did, and they didn't. Nope. They too insisted I would have to buy their stupidly priced bundle, which of course I would not.

Again I showed them their website. "If I buy this online, right now, can you give me one unbundled?" Their answer: Maybe, we don't know. Who does know? Online sales are handled by different team. Who? If you leave this store and go down the street, there's a little depot where they handle online sales. They might know. Fuuuuck.

OK so down a side street I found a guy at a basement online pick up counter. I asked him if I bought it online right now if he could give me one at the standard retail price. He was like, yeah probably, gimme a sec. He picks up the phone and calls the store I just left. I hear him speak to the first clerk I talked to. Yeah, the PlayStation Portal, no not a bundle, just the Portal. OK. He hangs up and tells me to take a seat. I waited as the motherfuckers up in the retail store unbundled one and walked it down the street to where I was. The online pick up guy didn't even make me buy it online. He just let me pay for it by card and walk out, which I could have done 90 minutes earlier.

Anyway, online pick-up guy was a champ. The retail staff at MediaMarkt on Fontanella in Barcelona can go fuck themselves.
 
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midnightAI

Member
i dont understand what you mean by may have trouble..its in stock in mediamarkt in stores...and its even in stock on ps direct here in germany
Is it? Guess this must be the wrong link, which is what I checked (and the stock check link allows you to change country and that said out of stock at direct also...


Is that the wrong link?

Also, still doesn't mean it isn't selling across the whole of Europe, in UK it's out of stock everywhere and last I checked UK is still in Europe
 

Taycan77

Neophyte
It was always bizarre to me why some didn't think there'd be a significant market to play your PS5 games on a handheld device. Most handheld devices are used in the home...plus you have the option to play further afield.

DualSense Edge has also been a major success as it enhances your PS5 experience. But for me PlayStation Portal is more of a must have device. I'm actually in half-a-mind to sell my TV while I can still get decent money for it. Then pick up a top of the line TV when PS5 Pro launches!

This is just another device that keeps me locked into PlayStations ecosystem. All this time Microsoft were pushing XCloud/GamePass. When all it needed to get me interested was a neat little device.
 
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midnightAI

Member
Not sure if anyone here has seen the posts on Reddit, but if your having any stutter or latency with the portal try this.

Turn off the ps5 and unplug the hdmi cable from the ps5 and try remote play. In a lot of cases it fixes all the issues people are having!
That sound like a brute force option for disabling the 120hz mode? I have a feeling this is happening because when you are playing with the TV on also it's still sending the signal as 120hz. Maybe, just guessing
 

Snake29

Banned
It was always bizarre to me why some didn't think there'd be a significant market to play your PS5 games on a handheld device. Most handheld devices are used in the home...plus you have the option to play further afield.

DualSense Edge has also been a major success as it enhances your PS5 experience. But for me PlayStation Portal is more of a must have device. I'm actually in half-a-mind to sell my TV while I can still get decent money for it. Then pick up a top of the line TV when PS5 Pro launches!

This is just another device that keeps me locked into PlayStations ecosystem. All this time Microsoft were pushing XCloud/GamePass. When all it needed to get me interested was a neat little device.

Microsoft isn’t even pusing XCloud. It’s already way behind in quality. The portal only needs cloud streaming and they have a winning device. The people who were screaming that PS owners could just stream Starfield and play it via XCloud are now silent, because streaming now suddenly is trash….hahaha….
 
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drotahorror

Member
Been sick with covid in bed and the portal has been great for me for the past 2 days. Barely have any energy to do much so having this thing in my night stand to get a quick session in has been great.
Move around some you lazy ass. That’s how people get pneumonia.
 

Three

Member
You must have exceptional internet.
Just to be a bit pedantic here exceptional (low latency and not bandwidth) internet would benefit even local play. So if it's your Internet even playing locally on a console will be the same. It's exceptional low latency Wifi that is required to bring it to the same standard as a local wired screen.
 

FrankWza

Gold Member
Obviously not. Like the PS5 the number of scalpers will be tiny compared to those buying at a store
Don't forget....
It’s literally the only thing it can do for no reason. Its hardware is able to but can’t access PS5 media app or cloud streaming. Actually, I am going to push for it to never get updated for PS cloud streaming or app support since that’s what some of you guys want.
If he thinks it's scalpers buying it he might abandon his master plan and all 10 of us that bought it to use have a chance at cloud streaming
 
What sad little lives some of you live for hoping for something to fail just because it doesn't align with your gaming habits.

The biggest shame about this device is the lack of bluetooth/connecting your own headphones, that is some next level bullshit Sony needs to sort out asap. I'm not spending £200 on headphones to play my handheld I just spent £200 on.

I wonder how much it's sold so far, maybe they underestimated demand for this?
 

Ogbert

Member
I have exceptional internet and I get smoked in COD especially maps like Rust he just must be able to compensate better
I’m struggling with FPS in general. I’m always over compensating with inputs, so moving past the target. Not just multiplayer - Destiny 2 feels nothing like as intuitive.

No worries though. The portal will be perfect for more casual games. Diablo 4 works really well on it (just a pity the game sucks ass).
 

tommib

Gold Member
This is why xbox will never catch up. Playstation as a brand can release a bag of poop and this point and it will sell.
You joke but this seems to be doing more for normalising streaming than any of the attempts we’ve had in the last decade. People were demonising Microsoft since xcloud became a thing and here we are selling out a streaming-only portable. Good or bad, the future will say.
 

El Muerto

Member
They're selling for a crazy amount on eBay. I couldn't imagine paying this much for a local streaming only device, let alone $200. I'm good with streaming my PS5 to my Steam Deck.
ta3uRJ1.png
 
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Not sure if anyone here has seen the posts on Reddit, but if your having any stutter or latency with the portal try this.

Turn off the ps5 and unplug the hdmi cable from the ps5 and try remote play. In a lot of cases it fixes all the issues people are having!

That, or maybe you could just turn off HDMI CEC from the TV as to not have it turn on whenever you turn the PS5 on
 

Dorfdad

Gold Member
Pppp
That, or maybe you could just turn off HDMI CEC from the TV as to not have it turn on whenever you turn the PS5 on
Don't think Turing that off makes a difference in these cases. It has something to do with the PS5 when it knows the cable is plugged in it seems to try and force vrr and 4K HDR if you have that set and there is some kind of conversion or issue that makes it have issues with remote play.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Very limited quantity. If it were anything worth bragging about, we'd know the number of units sold right off the bat.

My guess is probably less than 100K worldwide.

If they can sell 100k in 6 weeks that would be over the moon amazing!
 

ReBurn

Gold Member
They're selling for a crazy amount on eBay. I couldn't imagine paying this much for a local streaming only device, let alone $200. I'm good with streaming my PS5 to my Steam Deck.
ta3uRJ1.png
Those have to be fake bids to jack up the scalpers because there are tons of buy it now listings at around $300.
 

SABRE220

Member
Im still trying to figure out whats its unique selling point compared to existing mobile devices already capable of remoteplay? Its literally just a screen to use for remote play and it does not have any standalone media playback abilities that I'm aware of. So basically you're paying for a screen for remoteplay that isn't even oled at the price where you can basically buy a Nitendo switch....why would people buy this.
 
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midnightAI

Member
Im still trying to figure out whats its unique selling point compared to existing mobile devices already capable of remoteplay? Its literally just a screen to use for remote play and it does not have any standalone media playback abilities that I'm aware of. So basically you're paying for a screen for remoteplay that isn't even oled at the price where you can basically buy a Nitendo switch....why would people buy this.
You can't work that out from the numerous threads and posts?

(And reviews, YouTube videos, other comments on the internet)
 
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TheTony316

Member
Im still trying to figure out whats its unique selling point compared to existing mobile devices already capable of remoteplay? Its literally just a screen to use for remote play and it does not have any standalone media playback abilities that I'm aware of. So basically you're paying for a screen for remoteplay that isn't even oled at the price where you can basically buy a Nitendo switch....why would people buy this.

I thought the same at first but after actually trying it, going back to using my phone feels like a big downgrade.

It's the most comfortable portable i've ever used, nothing else comes close to it. The screen is really good, much better than the original Switch and the screen size is perfect.

The Portal is just very convenient to use. It only takes a few seconds to connect to the PS5 and remote play is quite a bit more stable than using my phone.

Believe it or not but i actually prefer the Portal over my Switch. The PS5 is my main platform, so the Portal gets more use over the Switch by default.
 
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Dorfdad

Gold Member
That sound like a brute force option for disabling the 120hz mode? I have a feeling this is happening because when you are playing with the TV on also it's still sending the signal as 120hz. Maybe, just guessing
yeah that's the speculation I assume. However nothing official from Sony if they can or even acknowledge it or if they can fix it. Really makes a difference for some people! Hope they can address this ASAP
 
This is just another device that keeps me locked into PlayStations ecosystem. All this time Microsoft were pushing XCloud/GamePass. When all it needed to get me interested was a neat little device.

Exactly this. I have all consoles but having something like the Portal makes me even more so want to buy my games on PlayStation, which draws me further into their ecosystem. Super smart move on their part and it'll only get better once it's updated to allow cloud streaming.
 

Quantum253

Gold Member
Just got back from BestBuy to get a feel for the Portal and probably pick it up. Nothing in stock. In fact, the dude working the game area had no idea what I was talking about and insisted that it was called the Backbone. I'll have to keep an eye out online
 
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