PS5’s menu will be ‘100 percent overhauled’, a Sony designer has claimed

PlayStation 5’s system menu will be “100 percent” overhauled compared to PS4’s interface, a Sony UI designer has claimed.

PlayStation’s VP of UX design, Matt MacLaurin fielded questions on the next-gen console’s menu system this weekend, telling LinkedIn users that PS5’s interface would feature “a whole new visual language.”

MacLaurin was previously head of design at Facebook before joining PlayStation in late 2019.

Replying to comments on LinkedIn, he said PS5’s menu would be “a little more [pragmatic], but a 100% overhaul of PS4 UI and some very different new concepts.”

He added: “While we are obsessed with function, very few pixels left from PS4 gen. Most important is experience goals measured in milliseconds across the entire UI.”

In another comment, the UX designer wrote: “It’s a very interesting evolution of the OS; more subtle than flashy but no pixel is untouched.”

He added: “Excited about what we’ve got to show there. As it’s UI it’s practical first, but it’s a whole new visual language and a complete rearchitecting of the user interface.”

Although a glimpse of the PS5’s boot sequence was teased during last week’s PS5 reveal event, most of what is known so far about the console’s menu system has come from interview comments and patents.

In October 2019 PS5 system architect Mark Cerny claimed PS5 would feature a “completely revamped” interface which would allow players to boot directly into multiplayer games and display joinable online activities in real-time.

Earlier this year Sony filed a patent for ‘Direct Gameplay’, a likely PS5 feature that will allow players to jump into specific parts of games straight from the console’s home menu.

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The feature would allow users to launch directly into a multiplayer match, specific game chapter or mode directly from the operating system menu, instead of having to boot a game and then progress through a series of menus.

The patent suggested the feature could display dynamic content such as a Trophy the player is trying to unlock or a friend’s game activity, and boot them directly to relevant content.

Another patent uncovered this month suggested PS5 could use machine learning to provide not just dynamic menu options, but game hints based on players’ actual gameplay.

The patent describes a system which may determine that the user has been repeatedly attempting to overcome a challenge within a particular portion of a game, and decide to provide hints for the current gameplay on the system menu.

The system menu described will also provide statistics and a video clip based on the user’s previous gameplay session.