PS5's Awesome Welcome Hub Was Designed by a Small, Passionate Team | Push Square
Sony has iterated on the PS5’s user interface faster than previous formats, and it’s been much more open to experimentation, too.
The console’s customisable landing screen Welcome Hub was introduced with little fanfare last year, and has quickly gone on to become an appreciated addition for millions upon millions of users around the world.
All the Welcome page's new features
How it came to be, however, is a little unorthodox. Speaking with Game File (paywalled), Cory Gasaway – who’s the vice president of PlayStation’s Product, Games, and Player Experiences division – revealed that the concept was the result of an internal “hackathon”, a kind of collaborative computer engineering project a bit like a Game Jam.
“The Welcome Hub came from a hackathon project that was designed by a small team that is passionate about this space,” said Gasaway. “We all loved the idea and supported them to move forward with making that project into something special – which is now the landing page that millions of players worldwide see when they boot up their console.”
The cool thing about the Welcome Hub is that it can be customised based on what you want to see; you can prioritise Trophies if you’re into virtual trinkets or your friends if you’re more of a social player. According to Gasaway, the DualSense battery indicator and SSD storage tracker are among the two most used widgets.
The concept is built to be expanded upon, too, so Sony could theoretically add more widgets in the future – although Gasaway wouldn’t comment on any new additions potentially in-development.
Are there any widgets in particular you’d like to see integrated into the Welcome Hub and why? Let us know in the comments section below.
As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He’s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time
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