New PlayStation 5 update brings some users 1440p, folders, more

Today, Sony revealed details on the next major firmware update for the PlayStation 5, and it brings a few features many of us have been waiting for.

Before I focus on the most exciting of the additions, here’s a bullet list of what’s being added:

• 1440p HDMI Video Output
• Gamelists
• Compare 3D Audio and Stereo Audio
• Easier Access to In-progress Activities
• Request Share Screen
• Joinable Game Notification
• View New Friends’ Profiles 
• Send Stickers and Voice Messages in Game Base

Probably the feature that will have the biggest impact with the most users is gamelists, a fancy name for folders. How any modern console launches without folders at this point is baffling to me, but that was an issue both the PlayStation 5 and the Switch faced in their early years on the market.

I’m really glad we’re finally receiving this feature, but I bring up the Switch because it shares a specific limitation that gamelists will also apparently suffer from: the inability to use those folders on the home screen. To use gamelists, you’ll need to go into your game library, where you can create up to 15 gamelists that contain up to 100 games per list.

So, although I’m happy we’re at long last getting such a feature on the PS5, it frustrates me that the console’s UI still lags behind what we had on the PS4. Sure, maybe it’s my fault for owning too many digital games, but I need more control over the chaos!

Even though it will certainly be meaningful to a much smaller group of PS5 owners than gamelists will, the long-awaited addition of 1440p support is a very welcome sight. As someone who’s been thinking of upgrading my home office’s desktop gaming display to a 1440p monitor, not having support on the PS5 for that resolution has been the major factor holding me back.

There are a few catches to this new feature, one of which is that given the PS5 didn’t support 1440p from the start, not all games may offer native output in that resolution. For those that don’t, however, the console should be able to supersample the 4K feed down to 1440p. Also, unfortunately, while the recently-added VRR (variable refresh rate) support on the PS5 works for either 1080p or 4K output, it will not when playing over 1440p.

To get a more in-depth breakdown of all of the features coming in this update, you can check out the post on the official PlayStation Blog. If you are one of the “invited participants in select countries” that have PlayStation 5 beta access, you’ll be able to start trying out these features as of today should you get an email from Sony. For the rest of us, we’ll have to wait until later this year to join in on the fun.