Earlier this month, Sony rolled out a brand new firmware replace that, amongst different issues, added a customizable welcome hub to the PlayStation 5 dwelling display. It’s lowkey certainly one of the most effective new options the console has gotten in years, but it surely’s being overshadowed by an equally irritating change that’s resulted in a bunch of random junk, together with adverts, getting splashed throughout gamers’ screens whether or not they need it or not.
The welcome hub is the brand new beginning tile on the PS5’s fundamental menu and it lets gamers select what’s displayed, from controller battery life to discounted video games on their PlayStation Retailer wishlist. It additionally lets gamers flip off an elective information feed widget that pulls random bulletins for all the video games they comply with. Sadly, that information feed is now infecting the remainder of the console’s dwelling display.
Tiles for put in video games used to show background artwork or exercise playing cards if you scrolled over them, however following a current change they now pull from regardless of the newest merchandise is in that sport’s information feed. Typically the outcomes are innocent, however different instances it means something from YouTube thumbnails to advertising and marketing for different video games takes over the display when deciding on particular video games to play.
“So it seems that the current PS5 UI replace that allow you to disable all of the ads on the dashboard was too good to be true,” tweeted person Earl Turlet over the weekend. “Now EVERY SINGLE GAME in your homescreen exhibits you an commercial within the background with no technique to take away them lol.” YouTuber Mystic additionally put collectively a radical video strolling gamers by means of the modifications.
Essentially the most egregious examples embody a “what’s Warhammer” video for Warhammer 40K: Area Marine 2, the Spider-Man: Miles Morales web page exhibiting a promotional picture from Spider-Man: Throughout the Spider-Verse which got here out over a 12 months in the past, and accolade posts that plaster the artwork of a sport with evaluate scores and testimonials. Typically the newsfeed exhibits one other sport completely, like Horizon Zero Daybreak: Full Version on PS4 whose background artwork now exhibits Lego Horizon Adventures as a substitute. “It’s an enormous downgrade for the UI,” wrote one participant on Reddit calling for others to protest the modifications. “Elden Ring is promoting a mousepad FFS.”
Hopefully, Sony reverts the change. Ideally, gamers could be allowed to customise the backgrounds for video games similar to they will on the welcome hub, selecting from official artwork and even their very own screenshots. And if some gamers do need fast entry to the newsfeeds for the corresponding video games, possibly Sony can do a greater job of displaying what they curate. In plenty of instances a easy checklist of the newest official headlines from the PlayStation Weblog or social media accounts for these video games could be much more helpful than how the feeds are at the moment constructed.
Replace 9/30/2024 4:41 p.m. ET: The information feed points are a bug in keeping with PlayStation senior product supervisor Daniel Hiatt. It feels like it is going to be mounted quickly.
