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Sony Exec Discusses PlayStation 5’s UI, Trends
Summary
- The PlayStation 5 “Welcome Hub” added a slew of customizable features, including movable information widgets.
- It came from a Sony-led Hackathon with a small team that was “passionate about this space,” according to a Sony VP.
- The VP also shared that PS5 users are split 50/50 between rest mode and powering off their console entirely.
In the middle of last year, Sony introduced a major update to the PlayStation 5′s UI via the “Welcome Hub.” The update allows users to customize a hub with a number of movable widgets to enhance their gaming experience. Though it had a few early hiccups, it’s largely been welcomed for its slew of helpful additions.
Via the “Welcome Hub,” users can see how many Trophies they’ve earned, what the battery life on their devices is or how much console storage space they have remaining, among other nifty features.
As it turns out, the update came from a PlayStation-centric “Hackathon.” In an interview with Game File (paywalled), Sony’s Cory Gasaway, the vice president of Product, Game and Player Experiences, shared just how the “Welcome Hub” came to be.
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“The ‘Welcome Hub’ came from a hackathon project that was designed by a small team that is passionate about this space,” he shared. “We all loved the idea and supported them to move forward with making that project into something special — which is now the landing page that millions of players worldwide see when they boot up their console.”
The goal, ultimately, was to allow each kind of player to tailor their experience as they see fit. For example, Trophy hunters can see their progress, while multiplayer enthusiasts can see which of their friends are online.
Other Noteworthy Trends
According to Gasaway, the most-used widgets are: “Battery, Storage and Online Friends.” That isn’t too surprising considering the crucial information they provide in an easily digestible format.
Elsewhere, Gasaway shared that, despite an “internal hypothesis” that theorized that more players put their console into rest mode instead of fully shutting it down, it’s not actually the case. “As it turned out, it was actually about 50/50 between the two options between all our players,” he added.
As for future widgets and updates, Gasaway did not have anything to share. He did note that the ability to decouple some areas has allowed PlayStation to deploy “quicker and more agile releases.” In other words, it likely won’t be long before the next PS5 UI evolution.
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