Key insights
- The PS5's latest UI update appears to have replaced the background for Game Hubs with full-screen advertisements.
- Games like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Elden Ring, Space Marine 2 and more are replacing their Game Hub wallpapers with the latest post from the PS5's messaging system.
- This often means Game Hubs now have advertising in the background, sometimes for the exact game PlayStation users want to play.
Over the years, platform operators like PlayStation and Xbox have become less and less subtle about turning our dashboards into stacks of advertising. Earlier this year, Xbox users began venting their frustrations with full-screen ads when booting up their consoles, and while PlayStation users may have had a laugh at their expense, the PS5 is now doing pretty much the same thing.
PlayStation recently released a new UI update for the PS5 that primarily targets Game Hubs, the screens that appear whenever you hover over a specific game on your dashboard. Before the update, they usually had a game image or title screen to clearly show which game you were playing, and some also provided a bit of atmosphere before jumping in.
The PS5's latest UI update annoys users with constant ads
That now appears to have changed with this latest UI update, as full-screen advertisements are now appearing on various Game Hubs. sometimes advertising the exact game you already own. A Twitter user named Alfredobofa has collected some of the worst examples from its console, as games like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Elden Ring are now showing award screenshots, while Star Wars Battlefront 2 is promoting several Star Wars games as part of Star Wars Day.
From what we can see, it looks like these huge ads can't be turned off, meaning PS5 users are now stuck with constant ads on their Game Hubs. It also looks like the Game Hubs are taking their backgrounds from the News tab on PlayStation, which is the reason for the completely different Game Hub backgrounds we're currently seeing.
That would also explain why older and smaller games don't seem to be affected. For example, I have The Plucky Squire and Nier Automata installed on my PS5, but neither shows ads. However, newer and larger releases such as Street Fighter 6, Final Fantasy 16 and Kunitsu-Gami show breaking news. The more major releases you play, the more affected you will be by this change.
Understandably, this is causing a lot of anger among PS5 users, who are calling the update an “objectively terrible change.” Others lament the loss of the PS4's theme system, which previously allowed you to customize your backgrounds based on specific games. Why PlayStation suddenly decided to change this is a mystery, although the level of backlash could make it a temporary change. Hopefully anyway.
