This morning Sony lifted the curtain a little and showed off bits and pieces of the UI on the PS5. Giving the public their first look at what they’ll see when they interact with the console.
Sony doesn’t leave too much to the imagination here with the PS5 UI. A new video Sony uploaded showcases the major parts of the interface, including the home screen. Though it is worth noting that it doesn’t show off the home screen right away and there’s likely a big reason for that.
Sony designed the PS5 UI with a big focus on the control center
With the PS5, one thing players may notice is that there’s a big focus on what Sony is calling the Control Center.
This is the portion of the interface you’ll see when you hit the PlayStation button while you’re inside of a game. It’s meant to give you access to various elements and features of the system without having to jump out of the game you’re in.
In Sony’s video, it’s jumping back into a current game of Sackboy: A Big Adventure after having powered the PS5 back on from rest mode. It appears this Control Center is a big part of the new console and likely why Sony wanted to focus on it at the very beginning.
The Control Center is setup in two layers. With a series of large cards that are displayed on the top layer containing information that pertains to your game. Such as stories, recently taken screenshots, and even the player’s current progress on various levels.
Below the cards layer you have system information. From here you can check your notifications and game download status, as well as see which friends are online and manage things like connected devices. All of this can be done without leaving the game.
The home screen layout takes up much less space
Later on in the video you get a peek at the brand-new home screen design. Which appears to take up much less space than it does on the PS4.
On the PS5, games and other game content are presented on much smaller cards that extend out from the top left corner. Sony says this design presents beautifully on 4K displays. It also displays the home screen theme background much more vividly because cards aren’t as large as they were on the PS4, nor are they sitting right in the middle of the interface.
Sony has also split up games and media into their own tabs. Which should make finding specific content much easier and keep things more organized. If you want a longer and more in-depth look at the UI, you can watch Sony’s video below.