A new beta widget has been discovered for PS5’s welcome hub, which shows players the top ten most-played games in their country. This data goes hand-in-hand with overarching player counts, which reveal which games are enjoying millions of weekly active users.
Sony recently explained why they charge a 30% commission on purchases made on the PlayStation Store, noting that supporting PS5 devs is a ‘big investment’. Now, they are trying a new widget that highlights the most-played games on their platform for users by region.
PS5 Beta Widget Reveals Player Numbers For the First Time
As spotted by Mystic over on YouTube (via Radec on X), the new PS5 beta widget for the Welcome Hub shows the top ten most played games in your country that week, as well as the games that are ‘Trending Now’ in your region.
Trending Now provides players with a visual showing a surge in gameplay hours and matches for the game. For example, the video revealed that Overwatch had a 255% surge in matches, Company of Heroes 3 had a 249% surge in gameplay hours, Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown was up by 128% in matches, and DOOM Eternal had an 188% surge in gameplay hours.
The top ten option provides a player count number for the games across a seven-day window.
For example, Apex Legends had 1.72 million players, Battlefield 6 had 1.51 million, and ARC Raiders had 972,000. At the furthest end of the spectrum, Fortnite had a whopping 14.6 million players, Call of Duty brought in 4.95 million, and GTA 5 (PS5) had 5.13 million.
It’s a great way for players to discover new games or even jump back into games they’ve played before. However, some of the games on the list could remain constant due to their large player bases.
This is a pretty huge leap forward, as until now, only Steam offered very public data around player counts. PlayStation’s new feature isn’t as granular as Steam’s data, which goes down to the individual user, but it’s a big step in the right direction when it comes to transparency.
In other news, a Sony Interactive Entertainment VP has revealed that the company has helped fund over 120 projects in this generation.
Additionally, some Chinese and South Korean studios seem to be moving faster than Western and Japanese teams. What are your thoughts on the new PS5 beta widget revealing the top 10 most played games in your country? Leave your thoughts down in the comments, and join the official Insider Gaming Discord server.
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