A new PS5 Welcome Hub widget currently in beta testing reveals top and trending games by region, bringing a new layer of Steam-like player analytics to the notoriously opaque console space.
YouTuber Mystic flagged the PS5 widget in a recent video, showing several examples of details shared with beta program participants (per Radec). Two settings are available: one shows the top 10 most popular PS5 games of the week, and the other shows games that are “trending now,” selected based on “which games and modes are surging in popularity right now.” Both settings use country-specific data rather than global stats, expanding on the “top games in your country” banner already in the PlayStation Store.
There’s theoretically space for newly launched games, not just freshly updated games, to elbow their way into this trending feed, which could give devs behind recent hits – especially games that originally pop off in certain regions – another means of reaching players. Centering it in the PS5 welcome hub, which is generally the first thing you see when you boot up the console in its normal state, could actually give the hub some more use. That said, it will come down to where Sony sets the bar for trending and how much space is left behind once the expected big releases get a turn.
This looks like a small addition, and it’s still only in beta, but discovering new games has been a weakness of console storefronts for years, so any attempts at improving that experience are welcome. I don’t know if it’s more of a UX or information problem, but a proper, agile “New & Trending” banner is exactly what I’ve wanted for ages.
A cursory look at the PlayStation Store on my PS5 reinforces that there’s still plenty of room for improvement. Because I played Saros, Returnal maker Housemarque’s latest third-person bullet hell shooter, Sony tells me I should try… Metroidvania darling Axiom Verge and retro survival horror game Signalis. Great games, all, don’t get me wrong, but it’s certainly an eclectic bunch. There’s no question that I get more pragmatic suggestions from Steam, which also makes it a lot easier to see at a glance what’s popular right now and what stands out in recent releases. That openness and variety is a deeper part of PC gaming, and is easier to show with a mouse and monitor, but it could benefit console gamers too.
I’ve seen this time and again in my years monitoring new releases, and I’ve heard much the same from developers on the other side of the fence who are weighing up the value of a console port. Building more of this kind of information into the PS5 hub and store could help make the console more practical for players and more appealing for indies, ideally resulting in a better selection of games.
That’s a lot to pin on this one little beta widget, but the direction, at least, is encouraging. And credit where it’s due: I was just now able to brute-force a rabbit hole of PlayStation Store recommendations that eventually led me to ScourgeBringer (pictured above), a 2022 release that I’m actually happy to discover (and which has 12x more reviews on Steam).
You can sign up for the PlayStation beta program for free if you’re interested in sampling features like this.
GTA 6 pre-orders start in a matter of days according to Best Buy affiliate email that reportedly spills the beans early.
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