That tiny patch that gives you the ability to customize the backdrop for the Welcome Hub of PS5 has just been rolled out by Sony PlayStation. Such a thing can be personalized to suit your style and widgets and so on. They even added a guide to walk you through it; great, I suppose?? But genuinely, the reaction of the players has been… very much something else.
Let me get the illogical stuff out first. The Welcome Hub is the screen that you view once you turn on your PS5, correct? It lists all your recent games, the latest news, and whatever else the Sony team deems fit to let in there. Now, you set the background and can move the widgets around. This has been the feature that customization wanted for since launch, really. But it is not full-fledged themes that we had on the PS4 or PS3. So, it just for the Welcome Hub. And the players are noticing that.
Replies to the announcement came flooding in immediately. And they were far from being praises. One of the players, RetroRitchie, basically sums up them all: “Who actually cares anymore…Give us something we actually want!!!” Another one from _damen312 asks for “more themes like the ps3”, which pretty much echoes everybody else’s thoughts. It’s like, okay, we can change this one little thing. Now, how about the rest? Where are the dynamic themes? Where are custom avatars? All the stuff that made PS4 feel like a personal system.
Now, about those pesky server issues. Were there server issues? Many replies amounted to players screaming that the servers are down. Like NewfieOilersFan: “Don’t care about hub backgrounds when the fckin servers are down.” And he wasn’t alone. Waffle_xp, JerimiahRos05, TheInvestor1K – all were variations of “fix the servers.” Really, it’s obvious: players want to get online and play games far more than they want to change a menu.
Well, here come the more creative ones. JohnDoe477 shared that he bought custom plates for his PS5, which brings forth the whole new thing Sony appears not to have addressed. RailyOtter, then, inquired if cover plates for Pro are coming, and Pro is not even out yet?? Like, people are already thinking ahead. Sony’s like, “Hey, change your background!”
And then there are avatars. J0709954145 asks why their PS3 avatars disappeared on PS4, which is a deep cut but valid, and FunkTion29 wants to know why they can’t use AirPods with the PS5. These are all genuine player concerns. Where they all get a background change for the Welcome Hub is just bringing an alarm clock to a housefire.
Not everyone is angry, though. Davidphobias comes to the defense of Sony, saying: “I imagine it’s not an easy task keeping psn working perfectly 24/7. Take it easy.” Which is fair; however, when the servers are down, and you really want to get online with your buddies, well, patience just isn’t really on the top of anyone’s priority list.
The general vibe coming from the community is one of frustration, indicating they want more than this. They want themes back. They want working servers. They want to be able to use their chosen accessories. This step of a Welcome Hub background change is a move, but it’s a trifle when measured beside these larger issues.
Then you have a whole other mood brewing in some of these replies. It is more than disappointment: It’s angry. Hero_horror accused Sony of lying about the network status, which is quite a hefty accusation. TonysForbiddens said that they would be moving over to Xbox in the next generation simply because PlayStation “have lost their loving for their own machine.” That could very well be the last nail in.
What does this mean? While beautification is fine, players want much more from Sony: functionality and reliability, thank you. Yeah, it’s cool that they finally launched that Welcome Hub update; however, all the noise is not going away anytime soon. It’s like just putting a band-aid on a broken leg; it might cover the wound, but it doesn’t fix it.
In the end, they will have to listen to their players. The feedback is loud and clear: Fix the servers. Bring back themes. Fix all the other quality of life features that were stripped away. A customizable Welcome Hub is but a distraction until Sony is back in business — and the players aren’t willing. They want results. So yeah, you can change your background now. But will it keep the players happy? Definitely not. Not when they can’t get online to show it off.
