A free Steam playtest called Asobi: Remote Play brings PS Portal’s signature feature to the Steam Deck, Steam Machine and other Linux systems: PlayStation Plus cloud streaming, with no PS5 required. Sony gave the Portal that capability in 2025; Asobi is a third-party app that opens it to Valve’s handheld and any Linux device.
The app does two jobs. The first is standard remote play, streaming games from your own PS4 or PS5 — territory Chiaki already covered on the Deck. The second is cloud streaming. With a PlayStation Plus Premium subscription, Asobi streams select PS5 games straight from Sony’s servers, whether your console is at home or not. That covers games in the PS Plus catalogue and eligible digital PS5 games you own, though not every purchased game qualifies — availability depends on Sony’s catalogue, account and region.
The playtest is free and every premium feature is unlocked for now: 1080p at 60fps, HDR, upscaling to 4K, low-latency modes, manual bitrate control and controller haptics. The free tier runs 1080p at 30fps with automatic bitrate.
A separate Asobi Premium package exists on the Steam page but has no announced price, and a Windows version is planned. The app is built by Inside Internet, which announced the playtest in the Asobi subreddit. It carries an explicit not-affiliated-with-Sony disclaimer and is still being tested — some users already report cloud allocation failures for games their Premium accounts should reach.
What it means if you’re gaming in the UAE
Sony’s cloud streaming does not reach the UAE. The service covers 30-plus countries across North America, Europe and Japan, and the Middle East is not among them; with no Sony cloud servers in the region, no UAE PSN account can use PS Plus cloud streaming in any app. Remote play from a home console still works on the Steam Deck. PlayStation Plus Premium runs to about AED 588 a year (US$159.99) on the UAE store.
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Is Asobi free to use?
The Steam playtest is free to install and currently unlocks every premium feature — 1080p/60, HDR, 4K upscaling, low-latency modes and haptics. The separate Asobi Premium package has no announced price.
Do you need a PS5 to use Asobi on the Steam Deck?
For cloud streaming, no — with PlayStation Plus Premium you play select PS5 games from Sony’s servers. For standard remote play, yes: you stream from your own PS4 or PS5.
Does Asobi’s cloud streaming work in the UAE?
No. Sony’s PS5 cloud streaming is limited to 30-plus listed countries across North America, Europe and Japan. The UAE isn’t among them, and Sony operates no cloud gaming servers in the Middle East.
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