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Something called “Activities” has been revealed on the PlayStation 5, and it apparently starts up specific parts of a game directly from the console menu (via VGC).
Gamereactor lifted the lid on this undisclosed feature of the console in its preview of racing title WRC 9. Of course, the preview is now gone, but it’s been archived here. According to Gamereactor, this Activities feature acts as an “instant deeplink to specific races directly from the console’s menu.” Ergo, if the player wanted to immediately get into a race, they wouldn’t have to boot up the game, enter its main menu, select the race, and then put the pedal to the metal. It would just happen automatically through Activities.
In fact, this sort of thing has been described in a Direct Gameplay patent submitted by Sony earlier this year. It contained a feature that would let players launch directly into parts of a game from a “dynamically generated menu which would be unique to each game.” Furthermore, PlayStation 5 lead system architect Mark Cerny mentioned something similar in his interview with Wired in 2019.
“Even though it will be fairly fast to boot games, we don’t want the player to have to boot the game, see what’s up, boot the game, see what’s up,” said Cerny. “Multiplayer game servers will provide the console with the set of joinable activities in real time. Single-player games will provide information like what missions you could do and what rewards you might receive for completing them—and all of those choices will be visible in the UI. As a player you just jump right into whatever you like.”
At the time of writing, Activities has not been confirmed nor denied by Sony. As a result, we’ll keep you updated when we have an official statement.
The PlayStation 5 will launch in holiday 2020.
