Sony Finally Showcases The New PlayStation 5 UI

Thanks to Burger King, gamers finally have their first look at the PlayStation 5 UI.

Kidding, of course.

“With less than a month until launch, we’re thrilled to share our very first look at the PlayStation 5 console’s user experience.” – Hideaki Nishino, Senior Vice President, Platform Planning & Management.

Brought to us by way of a surprise State of Play, Sony has finally revealed a glimpse into the long, anticipated user interface. This walkthrough provides an idea of just how big of an overhaul this UI looks when compared to the PS4’s.

This time around, the system seems broken down into a new “Control Center” menu. The menu can be accessed at any time with the press of the PlayStation button on your controller. The menu gives you access to an assortment of the usual tools. For example, seeing notifications and which friends are playing online. You can even check in on what your friends are playing as they are playing, with little picture-in-picture screens.

What Does the PlayStation 5 UI Bring to the Table?

However, perhaps the most striking difference was the PlayStation 5’s new “Activities” feature on the control center. By selecting Activities, gamers gain access to useful tips and hints to specific levels or modes within a game. These hints take shape in a number of ways including, estimated time to complete a level to providing an overview of items missed.

The feature goes beyond that by also including a “Game Help” feature. This new addition will essentially provide gamers in need of assistance, with videos and hints to an objective within a game that possibly has them stuck. This basically ensures that the player will never get taken out of the action by removing the need of seeking help online. If the player does require help, the answer is right there in the palm of their hand. Some of these videos that get brought up will display in little picture-in-picture modes or even split screen. Again, to really hammer in the idea of never taking the player out of the experience.

Some other details worth noting:

• The UI runs at 4K/HDR
• Screenshots and videos are also 4K
• Switching between games takes less than 8 seconds.
• “Game Help” requires PlayStation Plus
• The PlayStation Store comes fully integrated into PS5, no longer a separate app

All in all, there are some really neat additions and new features found within this overhaul. While the user experience’s full capabilities have not all come out just yet, this does answer a great deal of questions. Courtesy of the Burger King of course, for without him, we would not have any of our questions answered. In seriousness, PlayStation seems to want to hammer in this idea of a slick user interface designed to get you in and out of the action quickly. So far, the UI seems to do exactly that.