PlayStation portal sold out after just two days of release

Sony’s newest handheld gaming accessory, the PlayStation Portal, was officially released in UK and US stores on November 15, 2023. Now, just a few days later, the remote player is reported to be already sold out in both regions.

Per the latest information from the UK’s PlayStation Direct store, the current status of the PlayStation Portal is shown to be ‘currently unavailable’. The only update currently being offered by Sony is to check back on November 22 for more information.

The same situation has also occurred in PlayStation’s US online store, where gamers are now being asked to wait until sometime in early December for an update as to when more stock of the PlayStation Portal might become available.

According to industry experts, the common hustle known as ‘scalping’, has been one of the major contributing causes of the quick sell-out. Scalping is the practice of buying bulk amounts of a limited licensed product so that it can be sold at a profit later.

Since being launched less than a week ago, the PlayStation Portal has already started to appear for resale on many listing websites such as eBay and others. In the past couple of days, these listings are now being advertised online in much greater frequency. The handheld device, which retails in stores at £199, is now selling online at a price point of anywhere between £200 and £300.

For those of you not familiar with exactly what the PlayStation Portal is, let us take a moment to explain. The PlayStation Portal is ‘not’ a new handheld device like Sony’s PSP or the Nintendo Switch, as some fans were hoping. Instead, it is simply a handheld device that allows gamers who already own a PlayStation 5, to play their PS5 games remotely on the PlayStation Portal via Wi-Fi.

It seems that even Sony has been taken by surprise by the instant success and quick sell-out of the PS Portal. The Japanese company had hoped that the launch of the PlayStation Portal would help improve sales profits during this year’s busy Christmas period. Now though, if Sony isn’t careful, they could be faced with another stock shortage crisis just like the one that plagued the launch of the PlayStation 5 when it was first released.