Sony has iterated on the PS5’s user interface faster than previous formats, and it’s been much more open to experimentation, too.
The console’s customisable landing screen Welcome Hub was introduced with little fanfare last year, and has quickly gone on to become an appreciated addition for millions upon millions of users around the world.
How it came to be, however, is a little unorthodox. Speaking with Game File (paywalled), Cory Gasaway – who’s the vice president of PlayStation’s Product, Games, and Player Experiences division – revealed that the concept was the result of an internal “hackathon”, a kind of collaborative computer engineering project a bit like a Game Jam.
“The Welcome Hub came from a hackathon project that was designed by a small team that is passionate about this space,” said Gasaway. “We all loved the idea and supported them to move forward with making that project into something special – which is now the landing page that millions of players worldwide see when they boot up their console.”
The cool thing about the Welcome Hub is that it can be customised based on what you want to see; you can prioritise Trophies if you’re into virtual trinkets or your friends if you’re more of a social player. According to Gasaway, the DualSense battery indicator and SSD storage tracker are among the two most used widgets.
The concept is built to be expanded upon, too, so Sony could theoretically add more widgets in the future – although Gasaway wouldn’t comment on any new additions potentially in-development.
Are there any widgets in particular you’d like to see integrated into the Welcome Hub and why? Let us know in the comments section below.
[source gamefile.news, via thegamer.com]
Comments 46
I like the welcome hub and ability to put whatever wallpaper i like on there.
you do it by putting an image on a usb stick, display it using media gallery, screenshot it, then select change background media gallery
Still wish it was applied across the entire ps5 hub instead of the one tab. There's never a time I use the Welcome tab other than to check the battery life on my controller and headset. Also why have they still not made it to where you can display your collectibles from the Playstation Rewards. It's the perfect spot to put it at
I like immediately being able to see what friends are online and what they are playing also what what games they have recently been playing
Interesting that they mentioned that the OS team leaved the "two big firmware updates per year" thing behind. Apparently we will see more significant updates more frequently.
Let’s hope this passionate team can embed the features from PS4 that are still not on PS5. Just an actual folder system would be hugely appreciated.
They forgot to include the turn-off switch in the settings.
I will accept it's awesome if they give me the option to turn it off.
We have different opinion on what's awesome.
They just need to have the same news feed that was on the ps4, where you could comment and share sceeenshots with friends. Felt much more social than this hub.
still no folders
I love the Welcome Hub.
It makes it feels more social and connected and less isolated.
Seeing what my friends playing.
What their latest Trophies or Activity are.
Having the News of following games right there for me to catch up on.
Awesome addition to the Playstation experience.
Bring back folders and the PS3’s picture viewer and music player (with animated backdrops and playlists)
Passionate Lmao!
The PS4 was better. With a straightforward custom background on the main interface. That I wished continued throughout the dashboard with customised fonts colors etc... But hey its was PS4.
PS5 no folders to add categories, and none of the aforementioned, PS5 has gone backwards.
And I want the option to delete PS bloatware.
I'd happily remove it. It's just clutter. It's not hugely intrusive so I'm not bothered but if they allowed disabling it I would.
One thing has been really confusing me about the welcome page - the settings arent stored as part of the normal settings etc.
I have had to redo all the settings on 2 occasions I should not of had to:
1. When I cleared software cache or rebuilt database from the safe mode (I cannot remember which it was that cleared it) - these are normal maintenance things and shouldnt clear it.
2. When I transferred to Pro - which I had to do via a backup and restore via USB due to normal transfer not working.
Brilliant that they made it so easily flexible as we all like different things. Primarily i use mine to track how much storage I have left, controller battery and trophy level. But also to see new store sales and shortcut to my wishlist.
I’d like the ability to add more than one storage device at one time and perhaps a wish list on sale section. Talking of which it’s a pet peeve that when a game is on PS+ Extra it doesn’t show the price on the store and you have to dig for it. Sometimes we want to buy.
EDIT: the option to turn it off entirely would be good too, but it was sensible NOT to offer this initially as many would never have tried it if that was an option. Change often requires a little nudge.
This welcome hub is as good as ads in mobile games. Disturbing, shows nothing new, unskippable and you cannot get rid of it even if you turn off wi-fi.
I just want folder man, why this gen console hate folder? My wii u has folder but my switch don't, my ps4 has folder but ps5 don't 😕
And no, weird folder in library doesn't count, I want normal folder in homescreen.
@Icey664 did you actually use that? None of my friends ever used that
I keep the info on mine minimal. Mostly I just use it for custom screenshots or that lovely PS5 Pro animated background.
Personally I have no idea what the welcome hub is.
I just turn my ps5 in choose a game and of i go
Forget that, Sony need to make the 30th Anniversary stuff permanent. I don't want to lose the PS1 and its noises.
Let's check the comments under this benign article.
Ah, of course, all negativity and complaining.
No wonder no one takes users seriously.
I would love the option to remove all those stuff and have a simple and clear UI like the PS4 or the Switch. The PS5 system software is way bloated for my taste.
@breakneck speaking as a father, I used it alot on my PS4. Categorised them as one folder for kids games and one folder for adults games. Made it much easier.
@KeanuReaves I never used the sharing or commenting features myself, but it was much clearer and better when everything was displayed one below the other, like a news feed. The current L1 R1 paging is really lame.
On another note: this landing page is being presented as if it’s some huge development. Come on... I’m a software developer myself, and something like this could be put together by a single person in about a week or even less, including testing. All the data was already there; this is just a simple visualization of it.
Not sure it's awesome, just more clutter IMO.
Would love if they were passionate about a disabled switch for it
Please remove the apps for PS Remote Play and Picture Viewer (don’t remember its English name) from „Library“!
It’s already in the „main menu“, and that’s enough.
The ability to make the widgets even smaller. Scalable to your own specific size. Mostly because after placing about 4 of them on the screen, they block the background image
If it wasn't for the background I'd never look at it, the first thing I did was disable as much of it as I could leaving just the storage and battery displays. All it really does, is remind me that I'd like to be able to customise all of my home screen and not just a tab I spend no time on.
Oh and folders
@trev666 but they put a super strong shadow over it in the hub
@Shepherd_Tallon I occasionally cycle through those 10 random screenshots and sometimes I get a big nostalgia hit, lol.
@dschons There's an option to cycle them?
I either forgot about that or never noticed it. I need to play with it a bit more in that case.
I have really enjoyed the new format so far...agree it would be nice to have custom folders someday.
I miss the 'What's New' and 'Live from PlayStation' sections from the PS4.
The best future feature would be an on/off toggle. Some of us don't want it.
Another exceptional update by Sony. They get better and better each generation.
I have it setup with all the widgets I want, but really the only one I use is the battery level one. Disappointed it doesn't show the battery level of my Steel Series headset.
Would rather have the option to have as many games on the Home Screen as I want, rather than just a handful. A stupid downgrade. A more robust music player (like we had on PS4) would be nice too.
I love neat UI stuff like this and was really thrilled to see it added last year. I'm a huge fan. I hope they continue adding backgrounds (especially animated ones) over time.
@breakneck have over 2000 games so would be handy
I want to remove iiiiiiiiiit
Besides continuing wherever I left off when putting my PS5 in rest mode, I check the What's New tab to see what friends are online and I like to see the friend updates tab just to see games they've been playing, trophies gained, and games they're trying out for the first time. I like that aspect. It's also good to quickly see if any of the games on my wishlist are on sale.
@matekomlosi I'm a software dev myself aswell and while I agree you could get something alittle (not fully) like this in a week or so, you have to remember they aren't using any pre-existing frameworks. So they had to build everything from scratch which definitely takes time. Especially when there are so many different gadgets and ways to display them each individually.
I think the PS5's OS is now a decent, user friendly and straightforward piece of software. The Welcome Hub really added to it, making parts of it more easily accessible and professional looking. But until folders and themes are in, it will feel somewhat incomplete.
@Icey664 Recently got the PS5 and totally agree. Used to enjoy seeing what trophies had been earned and stuff.
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