Sony continues to refine and iterate on the PS5’s user interface, which was a little undercooked at launch but is gradually making great strides. One area it continues to champion and tweak are the Activity Cards, a feature designed to improve the speed at which you can access in-game activities. When used correctly, you’re able to jump directly to certain modes and locations, bypassing menus and loading screens.

A new firmware update available today – although some may have already seen it earlier in the month – transforms the way Activity Cards are presented in-game. Rather than a long ribbon of different icons, these are now grouped together. For instance, in the PGA Tour 2K23 example above, there’s a section for Single Player Activities and Multiplayer Activities. Selecting one of these icons, then brings up a neat list of all the things you can do.

PS5 User Interface UI Firmware Updates 3
Image: Push Square

Trophies have also been completely overhauled. Now, when you select the Trophy icon, you’re able to see the full list of available gongs in the game. You can then choose to pin certain challenges and even snap the list to your screen. Previously, you’d have to go to the Trophy Tracker and then tab through to a separate part of the system to see all of the trinkets available. This is a massive usability improvement.

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All in all, these are nice, appreciated quality of life improvements, then. There’s obviously still a long way for the PS5’s user interface to go, but it’s good that the Japanese giant is consistently rolling out meaningful enhancements of late. We’re really looking forward to the next major firmware update, which is rumoured to bring with it full Discord compatibility. That will hopefully help make the system feel a lot more social than it does right now.