A PS5 update that screwed up game backgrounds was just a bug

An apparent bug was causing game art backgrounds to be replaced by promotional messages and news posts on the PlayStation 5 dashboard for some people on Monday. The images they saw featured promotions for long-expired discounts and ads for new games.

People lamented the change in forums and on social media, saying the game art that previously showed up when they highlighted a game was gone. Instead, the image that would ordinarily show up as a news post in a separate section of the PS5 UI was splashed across the screen behind games like Miles Morales, Hi-Fi Rush, and Final Fantasy VII Remake.

In a since-deleted post, Daniel Hiatt, product lead for Game Hub and Activity Suggestions with PlayStation, wrote Monday afternoon that the change was a “(new) bug with an existing feature.” Then, by 6PM ET, those game pages are back to normal, as we confirmed on our own PS5s. The @AskPlayStation account on X confirmed the fix, saying:

A tech error with the Official News feature on the PS5 console has since been resolved. There have been no changes to the way game news is displayed on PS5.

One Verge staffer shared some screenshots of the temporary new look while it was active, like the one below highlighting a launch discount for Animal Well that ended months ago (the game came out in May. We reviewed it!).

There are whole threads devoted to the change on both Reddit and Resetera, but now that it’s reverted, people will have to go back to debating the PS5 Pro, review scores, and why Concord failed.