San Mateo, California, April 9, 2026, 13:10 PDT
- Separate top-row icons for PlayStation Plus, PlayStation Store, Games, Library and Media are replacing the older Games/Media split on some PS5 home screens. 1
- Early reports tied the redesign to Sony’s beta users, but newer reporting says some non-beta owners are seeing it too, without downloading new firmware. 2
- Sony has not publicly confirmed the redesign; Tom’s Guide said it had asked PlayStation for comment. 3
Sony appears to be rolling out a redesigned PlayStation 5 home menu to some users, replacing the console’s old Games/Media switch with separate tabs for PlayStation Plus, Sony’s subscription service, the PlayStation Store, its digital shop, Games, Library and Media. Screenshots and videos cited by gaming outlets show players moving between the tabs with the controller’s L1 and R1 shoulder buttons. 4
The shift matters because it changes how players reach PlayStation Plus, the Store and their library from the home screen, and because Sony is still reworking the PS5 interface rather than limiting updates to back-end features. Last year Sony restored classic console-inspired home-screen customizations after what VP of Product Management Shuzo Kikuchi called an “overwhelmingly positive response” from players. 5
Rollout details are less clear. Polygon reported on Wednesday that the change was appearing in Sony’s beta-testing program, where selected users try unfinished features, and TechRadar said the image that kicked off the latest round of coverage came from a user who said they were in the PlayStation firmware beta. But PlayStation LifeStyle reported on Thursday that some owners outside the beta were also seeing the redesign, suggesting a server-side rollout — a remote switch Sony can flip without asking players to download a system update. 2
What seems to be changing is modest but visible. The current PS5 layout has only Games and Media at the top; the new version splits that area into separate icons for PS Plus, PS Store, Games, Library and Media, while the horizontal row below stays focused on installed PS5 and PS4 titles. 1
Push Square, which later posted a video of the updated screen, said the redesign was initially visible to only a select group. TechRadar and Tom’s Guide, working from user posts and screenshots, said the layout echoed older PS4-era navigation and could make the library or store easier to reach. 6
There is still a real chance the final version changes. Sony’s beta page says test software may be incomplete, may differ from the final release and may never ship, while previous PS5 beta posts have warned that some features can change significantly before broader rollout. 7
Sony has framed PS5 software updates as a feedback loop for years. Platform Business Group CEO Hideaki Nishino said in a 2022 beta post the company had been “listening to your feedback.” VP Hiromi Wakai wrote in 2024 that refinements followed “feedback from our PlayStation community,” and Kikuchi said in 2025 that further UI additions were being made “based on player feedback.” 8
Sony is not alone in treating the dashboard as live software. Microsoft told Xbox Insiders last month it was testing more home-screen groups, custom colors and per-game Quick Resume settings, its suspend-and-resume feature, ahead of a wider rollout, and senior product manager Alex Charters said player feedback helps “shape how we build and improve the player experience.” 9
Sony has not publicly confirmed the home-menu redesign. Tom’s Guide said it had contacted PlayStation for comment, so the safest reading for now is that the updated menu is real, limited in scope and still subject to change. 3
