The PS5 won't have this PS4 feature at launch

(Image credit: Tom'south Guide)

Merely after the official look of the PS5 was revealed, Matt MacLaurin, vice president of UX pattern at Sony, stated that the PS5 would be "customizable in ways previous gens weren't."

He was presumably referring to the face up plates, which we now know are removable, but in one respect it looks like the PS5 will actually exist less customizable than the PS4. It doesn't look like information technology's keeping themes, and – at launch at least – every PS5 will have the same UI blueprint.

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Equally explained in the tweet above, that doesn't mean you're looking at a dull black screen. Rather, when you hover over a game, the splash screen of the title will fill the UI, so it could exist worse.

a shot of the PS5 OSlooks like PS4 games brandish their splash screens on hoverRIP themes pic.twitter.com/gNcpm6i5TdNovember 6, 2020

There's been no official explanation for the lack of themes, but it probable comes down to the change in UI where it simply wouldn't fit in the same way, dainty as it would exist to see classic themes in 4K. While the PS5 interface will certainly look familiar to anybody who has spent the final vii years playing PS4 titles, there are plenty differences to ensure that onetime themes wouldn't make the journeying beyond without substantial modifications.

Of class, just considering there are no themes at launch doesn't mean that will e'er be the case. Indeed, custom themes weren't a thing for PS4 until the ii.0 update dropped in October 2014 – almost a total year later on the panel launched.

It would be surprising if Sony didn't take something upwardly its sleeve farther downward the road, especially when paid themes are a nice petty side earner for developers and publishers. Even free themes given away with PS Plus are a quality of life actress to make the subscription seem more worthwhile.

Yet, it'south a bit disappointing that everyone will have the same home screen at launch. That's especially true when the console itself is only available in white at the fourth dimension of writing. And while an enterprising third party did come up with custom plates to rectify that, it has since been shut downward past Sony.

Hopefully that's a sign that the company has its own start-party PS5 plates in the works. The mock upwardly of a custom Spider-Man: Miles Morales PS5 is a license to print money if ever we saw i.

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Freelance contributor Alan has been writing almost tech for over a decade, covering phones, drones and everything in between. Previously Deputy Editor of tech site Alphr, his words are found all over the spider web and in the occasional magazine too. When not weighing upwardly the pros and cons of the latest smartwatch, you'll probably notice him tackling his e'er-growing games backlog. Or, more probable, playing Spelunky for the millionth time.