Sony’s PlayStation Portal modded to play PSP games, thanks to Android

Ben Schoon | Feb 20 2024 - 11:15 am PT

The PlayStation Portal is a $200 wireless screen and controller that streams from a PlayStation 5. That’s all it does, with no local functionality. However, seemingly thanks to the PlayStation Portal’s Android base, the device was modded to run PSP games.

First launched in 2004, the PSP (or PlayStation Portable) was a compact, handheld device that could run games locally. Similar to a Nintendo DS, the device had its own catalog of games that weren’t quite as strong as what was being offered on home consoles at the time, but a rich library grew over time. The PSP, though, eventually was discontinued a decade later in 2014.

The next handheld device to arrive in Sony’s lineup was the PlayStation Portal, which launched last year. The $200 device essentially cuts a DualSense controller in half and connects it to either end of an 8-inch display. The device connects over a network to your own PlayStation 5 console and just mirrors what the PS5 can do. It’s a great way to give the system some flexibility, but the Portal was largely panned due to the fact that it does nothing beyond streaming games from a PS5.

That’s not only frustrating because Sony has a perfectly capable cloud-gaming offering, but also because the Portal actually runs on top of a heavily modified version of Android.

That Android base, though, has now allowed the PlayStation Portal to be modded to play PSP games.

Two Googlers managed to modify the Portal to run the PPSSPP app, an emulator for PSP games that’s available on a variety of platforms, including Android. While the mod hasn’t been detailed yet, it was confirmed that it is based on Android using the PPSSPP app. Apparently, Sony has its system set up to block the installation of APK files, but a bypass was found.

https://twitter.com/theflow0/status/1759628251796742469

There’s no word on exactly how well games run, but it sounds like you probably can’t install many, as the device has a mere 6GB of storage available.

Still, the fact that this was done at all hints at a future where Sony’s $200 device could become a lot more useful. Sadly, though, the PlayStation Portal is completely out of stock at the moment.