The first major system software update for PS5 is rolling out for consoles in all regions tomorrow, and brings enhancements to storage, social features, and control and personalization options.
As revealed on the PlayStation Blog, the PS5 April update will allow players to store PS5 games on a USB expanded storage device, share gameplay across PS5 and PS4 consoles with Share Play, and access a new Trophy Settings and Stats screen.
For its new storage solution, PS5 games downloaded to the internal SSD can be moved to compatible external USB drives. Doing this is accessed from the game’s tile on the home menu, using the options button. This is a space-saving measure, though, rather than a permanent storage solution; PS5 games cannot be played off USB drives, and so must be moved back onto the SSD before you can play them. However, considering the relatively small size of the internal SSD and the more frequent need to free up space for new games, this does means you can remove games from the drive and put them back again much faster than re-downloading them entirely.
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Sony notes that some games will support the ability to move only specific modes across drives, and so you may be able to move the campaign to USB storage when you’ve completed it and keep multiplayer on your SSD.
As for that promised M.2 drive support that Sony has been talking about since before the console launched, the blog post simply says Sony “will keep you posted”.
In social features, cross-generation Share Play has been added. This means PS5 users can now share their game screen with friends on PS4 while in a voice party. Basically, if you want to show off Demon’s Souls to your friends that still haven’t managed to get a PS5, you can do that now. Importantly, Share Play allows other players to try out PS5 games by ‘passing them a virtual controller’ and allowing them to take over control of the game. Since this is now cross-generational, you can now let a friend on PS4 try out Astro’s Playroom. The system even allows a visitor to play co-op together in certain games.
A ‘Request to Join’ option has been added to appear on both PS5 and PS4 consoles in the social menus, for supported games. This allows for quicker joining of games, rather than using in-game menus.
Improvements have also been made to the Game Base menu, which now allows you to switch tabs between Parties and Friends, rather than them being stacked on top of each other in one single list. You can also turn on and off notifications for specific parties.
Adjustments to the audio menu allows you to totally disable in-game chat from the PS5 menu rather than using individual in-game menus, as well as adjust the volume of players you are talking to. This means you can boost quiet friends or reduce loud ones without asking them to alter their own settings.
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A new option will allow you to pre-load upcoming game patches, should the developer have enabled the feature. This will be part of the ‘automatic updates’ settings.
A new system for Trophies will allow you to customise when images and videos are captured when you unlock a trophy. For example, you can dictate that video clips are only captured if you unlock gold trophies, which will help capture not only the most difficult achievements, but also save drive space on all those 15 second clips. There’s also a new Trophy Stats screen that shows off a summary of your trophies.
Finally, the update allows you to customise your game library and adjust the menu magnification to suit your needs.
Alongside this major PS5 update, the PlayStation App is also being updated. The new features will allow you to join a multiplayer game on PS5 from the app, manage your console’s storage, compare trophies with friends, and sort/filter products in the PS Store.
For more on PS5, check out how we feel about PlayStation’s focus on ‘too big to fail’ games, which was revealed as part of a recent report on first party studios, as well as our weekly podcast that focuses on all things PlayStation, Beyond.
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Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Entertainment Writer.
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