5 years in the past, in November 2020, PlayStation 5 marked a brand new generation of pace, immersion, and creativity. As we have fun its 5th anniversary, we’re taking a look again at how PS5 has advanced – 12 months by way of 12 months – thru gadget tool updates, new equipment, and neighborhood milestones that proceed to redefine play.
2020: The start of a brand new era
The PS5’s release in November 2020 redefined what a console may do. Powered by way of an ultra-high-speed SSD, immersive 3-D Audio, and the leading edge DualSense wi-fi controller, PS5 presented a brand new era of immersion by no means felt sooner than in gaming.
- Proportion Display debuted, permitting gamers to observe pals’ gameplay in actual time by the use of PS5 and later at the PS App. Since release, Proportion Display has been used greater than 1.6 billion occasions, totaling over 900 million hours. Best shared titles come with Fortnite, Roblox, Name of Accountability: Fashionable War II, and Grand Robbery Auto V.
- Accessibility has been on the center of PS5 since day one. The console introduced with 11 accessibility options, which has grown to twenty by way of 2025 – together with new additions comparable to Accessibility Tags and 2d Controller for Help. One out of each and every 4 PS5 customers have enabled no less than such a accessibility options.
- Each PS5 console and accent options microtextured PlayStation shapes – on DualSense on my own, there are 45,674 tiny triangles, circles, crosses, and squares.
2021: Increasing the enjoy
Because the PS5 participant base grew, so did the platform’s features. 2021 interested in updates that expanded social connectivity and garage choices:
- The primary primary PS5 gadget replace added Go-generation Proportion Play, enabling PS5 gamers with PlayStation Plus club to nearly ‘cross the controller’ to pals the use of PS4. Since release, Proportion Play has been used over 700 million occasions on PS5.
- M.2 SSD garage enlargement gave gamers freedom to develop their libraries. The usage of an industry-standard M.2 structure equipped a versatile and cost-efficient solution to increase PS5 garage, and the characteristic has since been followed by way of hundreds of thousands of gamers.
- We additionally added the facility to percentage PS5 recreation captures in the course of the PlayStation App, leading to 5.6 billion captures uploaded. Nowadays, just about part of PlayStation messages are despatched from the PS App, with greater than 1 billion voice chat classes happening in the course of the app.
- 2021 additionally presented PS5’s first colour permutations – Middle of the night Black and Cosmic Crimson, giving gamers extra techniques to customise their console and equipment of their favourite colour.
2022: Extra Choices, Extra Tactics to Play
In 2022, PS5 advanced additional to ship a richer and extra customized play enjoy.
- VRR (Variable Refresh Price) enhanced visible functionality by way of minimizing visible artifacts for smoother, crisper gameplay. Thousands and thousands of gamers have enabled the characteristic, with 96% of the ones with VRR-compatible displays the use of it often.
- This used to be additionally the 12 months PlayStation Plus presented a brand new three-tier carrier, providing masses of video games within the Recreation Catalog for Further individuals and Deluxe/Top rate individuals, in addition to get right of entry to to a Vintage Recreation catalog for Top rate individuals. Since release, the selection of distinctive catalog gamers has doubled, and the overall gameplay hours for Recreation Catalog and Vintage Catalog has additionally higher – cumulatively hitting 14 billion hours.
- PS5 personalization expanded additional with new galaxy-inspired colour permutations: Nova Crimson, Starlight Blue, and Galactic Crimson.
2023: Pushing the limits of play with new equipment
2023 used to be a 12 months of extra leap forward {hardware} and innovation.
- PlayStation VR2 introduced, introducing next-generation immersion with eye monitoring, headset comments and deep immersion with haptic comments and adaptive triggers thru PlayStation VR2 Sense Controller.
- Discord voice chat arrived on PS5, connecting gamers throughout platforms. Since release, greater than 1 billion Discord voice chat classes have taken position on PS5, averaging 105 mins in keeping with consultation.
- PlayStation Portal far off participant redefined far off play, now accounting for over 50% of all PS5 Far flung Play classes – surpassing streams thru cellular, PC, PS4 and PS5 consoles mixed.
- We additionally presented DualSense Edge wi-fi controller – our first high-performance, ultra-customizable controller – and the Get right of entry to Controller, a controller equipment designed to make gaming extra out there for all.
- Cloud Streaming get right of entry to for PS5 video games introduced new choices for PlayStation Plus Top rate individuals to circulation supported PS5 virtual video games from Recreation Catalog, Recreation Trials and purchases from PS Retailer on their PS5 console.
- Moreover, we launched a brand new line of audio merchandise that includes planar magnetic drivers and our leading edge PlayStation Hyperlink era that gives lightning-fast, lossless audio reference to Pulse Discover wi-fi ear buds, adopted by way of Pulse Elite wi-fi headset in early 2024.
2024: Empowering gamers and communities
In 2024, PS5 deepened neighborhood connection and personalization.
- Neighborhood Recreation Assist debuted, enabling gamers to percentage gameplay trace movies generated from opt-in individuals. The characteristic is now to be had throughout masses of PS5 titles, with 1000’s of useful neighborhood hints contributed by way of gamers world wide.
- The brand new Welcome Hub presented a customized PS5 house display house with customizable widgets and backgrounds. Customization has been emerging since release, with the battery widget rising as the most well liked, and private gameplay screenshots turning into the highest background selection amongst gamers.
- This used to be additionally the 12 months we introduced the PS5 Professional – our maximum visually spectacular and leading edge console so far, together with the PlayStation thirtieth Anniversary Assortment, celebrating 30 fantastic years of play and creativity.
2025: 5 years of play
Satisfied fifth Anniversary, PS5! As we have fun 5 years of the fantastic adventure, the numbers inform the tale:
- PS5 has cumulatively offered over 84 million devices globally. For those who coated up each and every PS5 ever offered, in combination they’d stretch over 28,600 kilometers – lengthy sufficient to move from Tokyo to San Francisco to London, after which all of the long ago house once more.
- Greater than 7,500 PS5 video games had been revealed by way of over 4,000 creators world wide. Via general playtime, the highest 3 most-played PS5 multiplayer video games had been Fortnite, Grand Robbery Auto V, and Name of Accountability Fashionable War II and the highest 3 PS5 most-played single-player video games had been Murderer’s Creed Valhalla, God of Conflict Ragnarök and Hogwarts Legacy.
- Avid gamers have earned a mixed 40 billion Trophies on PS5, together with 110 million Platinum Trophies.
- Throughout 5 years, PS5 gamers have logged a complete of 100 billion hours of gameplay.
5 years on, the PS5 platform continues to adapt and fix extra gamers than ever. From the day it introduced to nowadays, PS5 has redefined what play can imply for creators and the neighborhood alike.
Right here’s to 5 fantastic years of play – and to the hundreds of thousands of gamers who made them unforgettable!
*All figures are in line with interior information accrued as of September 2025.
