PS5 will feature ‘revamped’ interface and ‘configurable’ game installs

Sony’s next-gen console, now officially called PlayStation 5, will feature a “completely revamped” user interface and the ability to configure game installs.

In a newly-published Wired article, system architect Mark Cerny detailed the next-gen console’s “finer-grained” approach to managing game data.

Thanks in part to the simplified game data possible with the console’s new solid state drive (SSD), PS5 will have a more configurable installation—and removal—process, Cerny said.

That could mean the ability to install just a game’s multiplayer mode, or install a whole game and then delete the single-player campaign once it’s finished.

“Rather than treating games like a big block of data,” Cerny said, “we’re allowing finer-grained access to the data.”

Game installation will be mandatory on PS5, due to the significant speed difference between the on-board SSD and the new optical drive, which will read 100GB physical discs and double as a 4k Blu-ray player.

Regardless of which parts of a game players choose to install, Sony says they’ll be able to keep up to speed with game progress via a “completely revamped” user interface.

The new home screen will display more game information such as which single-player missions you can play or what multiplayer matches you can join, Cerny said.

“Even though it will be fairly fast to boot games, we don’t want the player to have to boot the game, see what’s up, boot the game, see what’s up,” he said.

“Multiplayer game servers will provide the console with the set of joinable activities in real time. Single-player games will provide information like what missions you could do and what rewards you might receive for completing them—and all of those choices will be visible in the UI. As a player you just jump right into whatever you like.”

Sony also detailed the PlayStation 5 controller on Tuesday, confirming new features such as haptic feedback, “adaptive triggers” and USBC charging. In the same article Sony confirmed that PlayStation 5’s ray-tracing technology will be hardware-accelerated.