The latest system software update for the PS5 has replaced game backgrounds in the OS interface with ads, and there’s no way of disabling them.
With the arrival of the recent system software update (version 24.06-10.00.00) on PS5, Sony Interactive Entertainment added a new Welcome Hub, replacing the Explore Hub and providing a customizable interface, where users can add widgets displaying information such as storage, battery levels, and online friends. Widgets can be customized by adding, removing, resizing, and repositioning them. By removing all advertising widgets, it seemed as if the console’s interface could be made ad-free and more personalized. However, this is far from the case.
While it’s true that the new Welcome Hub widgets that arrived with the recent system software update on PS5 can be customized to remove all ads, each game background itself is now an advertisement hub for its publisher to promote additional titles, as can be seen above with Star Wars Jedi: Survivor’s background.
Live game backgrounds have been available on PS5 for quite some time, but it’s only the console’s recent system software update that has made it possible for publishers to roll out promotional content in the background of a game’s tab. This can be problematic, especially if, much like EA has already done so with Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, every other publisher decides to promote other titles in game backgrounds.
While system software update version 24.06-10.00.00 has made some questionable changes, it has also brought some worthwhile Quality of Life features. The Welcome Hub has made the console interface customizable. Additionally, users can now set which accounts are allowed to connect to the PS5 through Remote Play. The restore licenses feature has also been updated, allowing users to restore licenses for individual games. Furthermore, a storage space recommendation feature has been added in order to provide helpful storage management tips.
