PS4, support for PlayStation Communities ends
After the release of firmware 8.50 on PlayStation 4, the Sony Interactive Entertainment team has communicated to users active on the console the imminent end of support for a service.These are specifically PS Communities, hubs and virtual meeting point for active audiences within the PlayStation ecosystem. The purpose of the social tool was in fact the facilitation of contacts between players and fans sharing similar interests, including hunting for Trophies, sharing in-game shots, searching for party mates for multiplayer titles and much more.
However, we would like to point out that PlayStation Communities will soon cease to be available on PS4. Sony has in fact announced that the feature will no longer be supported by hardware starting from April 2021, with the termination of the service therefore very imminent. The old generation console will continue to offer the usual messaging services, through which users can keep contacts. Have you used PS Communities regularly over the last few years?
Sony currently has over 115 million PlayStation 4s distributed worldwide, according to data updated to February of the new year. , with a decidedly considerable volume of installed base, which the videogame giant has confirmed that it will continue to support for some time yet.
PS4 Update 8.50 Toggles Group Notifications And Removes Communities
Sony Interactive Entertainment has begun rolling out a new PlayStation 4 firmware update that brings forth a few quality-of-life improvements.
According to available patch notes (Mp1st) from earlier today, PS4 update 8.50 firstly allows players to toggle notifications for every group they are a part of. This was previously turned on by force and players were dealing with a bloated inbox if they had joined multiple active groups on PlayStation Network.
Secondly, PS4 update 8.50 entirely removes PlayStation Network Communities. The new firmware update, dubbed as Spring 2021 update, also allows players to send in a request to join a game session which the host can either approve or deny. However, if players are playing a game they have hidden, their game will not show up for other players.
The said PS4 update 8.50 has currently rolled out just for beta testers. The update should go live for everyone else in the coming days provided that there are no reported concerns.
The new firmware update follows update 8.00 which was released last October to introduce dozens of new avatars and most importantly, an enhanced two-factor verification system to support third-party authenticators. The additional protection layer now makes it secure for players to download authenticator apps from the App Store and Google Play for their PlayStation Network accounts.
Elsewhere, the new PlayStation 5 received its last firmware update a month back. Like prior updates, the new console received a series of system performance improvements and stability fixes. That and one major change where inserting a game disc into the console will not automatically install the PS4 version of the game. Previously, as with Black Ops Cold War, players were accidentally auto-installing the PS4 version of the game on PS5.