PlayStation 5 UI officially revealed

It’s what the console looks like that matters, but what’s inside that really counts.

We’ve already seen a detailed breakdown of the PS5 internals, but on Thursday Sony focused on showing off the official user interface that will be used to start games, chat with friends and do so much more.

Here it is, in action:

“We believe your play time is valuable and should be meaningful, and all the new features we’re delivering are inspired by that concept and vision,” Hideaki Nishino, senior vice-president, platform planning & management, wrote in a Sony blog post.

“The new UX introduces several new features designed to make your gaming experiences more fun, engaging, personalised and social.

“One of the highlights is a new control centre, which provides immediate access to almost everything you need from the system at a single press of the PlayStation button on the DualSense wireless controller — all without leaving the game.”

The PS5 UI also has a new feature called activities.

“Activities are displayed via on-screen cards in the control centre, which enables you to discover new gameplay opportunities, go back to things you missed, jump directly into levels or challenges you want to play, and much more,” Nishino explained.

Some activity cards can be put in picture-in-picture mode, so you can view them without having to leave the game.

''Navigating the interface, switching between games, and hopping into online matches occurs quickly, as we rebuilt the entire software stack from the console to the network to bring you a truly next-generation experience,” Sony says.

''We believe the less time you spend waiting to interact with the system, the more time you will have to spend playing games.”

Looking good! Sony’s interfaces over the years have always been sleek and stylish, and its stab at 2020 aesthetics looks sharper than ever before. Not too long to go now, until the PS5 launches on November 12 in select regions and then rolls out to the rest of the world later.

This article was brought to you by Critical Hit.