When the PlayStation 5 launched, anyone who was actually able to get their hands on one had to deal with somewhat limited storage space. Despite boasting 825GB, only 667GB of it can actually be used. So, anyone looking to play plenty of games on the system would have to periodically delete games to free up space for new ones, since the PS5 also isn't compatible with external hard drives. Sony did say before launch that this would be resolved at a later date and that time is finally almost here.
Announced today on the PlayStation Blog, Hideaki Nishino, vice president of Platform Planning and Management, confirms that a major PlayStation 5 update is scheduled for April 14. While the update will include several things, arguably the most important one is compatibility with external hard drives, specifically USB drives.
With this feature, PS5 owners can transfer PS5 games to USB extended storage and can also seamlessly transfer them back. The blog post even recommends reinstalling games from USB storage over redownloading from a disc since it's much faster. However, unfortunately, PS5 games can't be played directly from an external hard drive as they are designed to use the console's SSD. What's more, PS5 games can't be directly downloaded onto a USB drive either. And in case anyone is wondering about support for M.2 drives, the blog reads that this feature is still being worked on.
The second feature is Cross-generation Share Play for PS5 and PlayStation 4 owners. While there are plenty of individual games that allow friends to play games together, even if they're using different consoles (Watch Dogs Legion, for example, will get the feature soon), the update will allow them to use the Share Play feature as well. This includes things like being able to share screens between the two consoles and the ability for PS5 owners to let their PS4 friends try out PS5 games. PS5 and PS4 owners will also be able to send requests to join their friends' games, which serves as a shortcut to sending an invite.
Lastly, the Game Base menu will be improved in a number of ways, allowing for quicker access to important features. Among the new additions, there will be an option to disable in-game chat and even adjust the individual volume of other players in the same chat and automatic pre-downloads for game updates when they become available.
Source: PlayStation Blog