Sony Interactive Entertainment opened Japanese pre-orders Friday for a revised Midnight Black PlayStation Portal handheld with additional internal storage. Priced at ¥39,980 including tax, roughly $250 to $253, it launches in Japan on December 10 as PlayStation Portal Player (Japanese Only). Each unit includes a one-month PlayStation Plus Premium membership. Sony has not disclosed the exact storage capacity or what future features will use it. According to PC Guide, Tbreak, and VGChartz, Japanese retailers began accepting pre-orders at 10:00 a.m. local time Friday. The device remains limited to Japanese system language settings and PlayStation Network accounts registered in Japan.
By maintaining ¥39,980, Sony adds internal storage without raising the domestic price. The strategy mirrors Sony's November 2025 launch of a lower-priced, Japanese-language-only PlayStation 5 Digital Edition at ¥55,000, according to Niko Partners. MLQ.ai and TechPowerUp noted Sony dropped Remote from the Japanese title while adding built-in flash storage "with an eye towards future functionality." The standard PlayStation Portal streams PS5 games over local Wi-Fi or via cloud streaming introduced in 2025, requiring an active PlayStation Plus Premium subscription. It cannot install PS5 games locally or run standalone video apps such as Netflix or YouTube. Sony promised to reveal future software capabilities once technical details are finalized.
As of Friday, Sony Interactive Entertainment has made no announcement on whether the storage-equipped Midnight Black revision will launch in North America or Europe. Current PlayStation Portal owners have no announced hardware upgrade path. Hardware specifications outside the added internal storage remain largely consistent with the original handheld, retaining an 8-inch 1080p 60-frames-per-second LCD display alongside DualSense adaptive triggers and haptic feedback. Eteknix noted cloud streaming support introduced in 2025 allows Japanese PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers to stream compatible titles without owning a physical PlayStation 5 console.
