PS5 interface to be revealed soon – and it's 'a 100% overhaul of the PS4 UI'

(Image credit: Sony)

The PS5 UI will be revealed soon, according to replies in a LinkedIn post by PlayStation's VP of UX Design Matt MacLaurin. As captured by Resetera (though we were able to verify this ourselves), McLaurin says "you'll see our stuff soon", and hinted a little at what the team at PlayStation has been working on. 

Seemingly describing the PS5 UI, MacLaurin says it's "a little more pragmative, but a 100% overhaul of PS4 UI and some very different new concepts."

"We'll show more of the OS soon!" MacLaurin says in response to another comment. 

There are some other interesting bits in MacLaurin's replies. One person asked why the PS5 console is bigger and bulkier. "'Thermals," McLaurin responded. "This gen is little supercomputers. While the 7nm process delivers amazing heat performance for the power, the power is very extreme." 

Someone else asked if the console comes in black like its previous models. MacLaurin responded with a "Maybe." We wouldn't put too much stock in that reply for now, though. Another person asked if the console comes in black, and MacLaurin was non-committal. 

"While this is the flagship / reference, you can count on even more beautiful (and hopefully radical) special editions. Also, leave the black rectangles in the media center and keep this one in the open."

A black PS5 feels like a dead cert at some point, but we'd be very surprised to see this in time for launch. 

A UI upgrade?

The PS4 menu interface

The PS4 menu interface (Image credit: Future)

The UI change from PS3 to PS4 was widely hailed as a massive step up, so it'll be interesting to see what Sony thinks the PS5 needs to do better. It's likely, too, that we have a number of new hardware features coming with the PS5 that we don't know about yet, like how the PS4 included the Share button. They'll presumably factor into the UI design in some form. 

McLaurin's comment of "very different new concepts" perhaps points in that direction. During the PS5's next reveal, we expect to learn about price, release date and what else the hardware can do, but Sony hasn't offered any indication of when its next showing will be.

Still, it's nice to finally see actual information on the PS5 doing the rounds, instead of spurious nonsense. 

Samuel Roberts

Samuel is a PR Manager at game developer Frontier. Formerly TechRadar's Senior Entertainment Editor, he's an expert in Marvel, Star Wars, Netflix shows and general streaming stuff. Before his stint at TechRadar, he spent six years at PC Gamer. Samuel is also the co-host of the popular Back Page podcast, in which he details the trials and tribulations of being a games magazine editor – and attempts to justify his impulsive eBay games buying binges.