Sony's PlayStation 5: Good & Bad News on Themes

Sony has announced an update regarding the limited-time classic PlayStation, PS2, PS3, and PS4 console themes for PS5, along with news about future theme releases.

In a tweet, Sony confirmed that these beloved themes will be unavailable starting tomorrow, January 31, 2025. However, they also confirmed a return is planned. This is welcome news for PS5 owners who enjoyed the nostalgic boot-up sounds and visuals. Sony stated, “Thank you for the fantastic response to the classic PlayStation, PS2, PS3, and PS4 limited-time console themes, which will be leaving tomorrow. Due to the positive response on these 4 themes, we’re doing some work behind the scenes to bring these special designs back in the months ahead.”

Your PS5 now has themes that use imagery and sound from previous PlayStation consoles! pic.twitter.com/5UAwEplcwX

— IGN (@IGN) December 3, 2024

Unfortunately, Sony also announced in a subsequent tweet that there are currently no plans to release additional themes beyond these four. Their statement read: “While there aren’t plans to create additional themes in the future, we're excited to keep celebrating legacy PlayStation hardware with you all.”

This news has been met with some disappointment from fans. The PS5's lack of themes, a feature present in previous generations, continues to be a point of contention. Based on this statement, it seems unlikely that more themes will be added during this console generation.

The nostalgic themes, released in celebration of PlayStation's 30th anniversary on December 3, 2024, allowed PS5 users to customize their home screens and menus with imagery and sounds from the PSOne, PS2, PS3, and PS4. The PSOne theme featured the classic console in the background, the PS2 theme incorporated its menu designs, the PS3 theme used its wave background, and the PS4 theme similarly included its wave patterns. All themes included the respective console's iconic sound effects.