Screenshot: Sony / Kotaku
Like an untamed Instagram feed, the PlayStation 5 sometimes gives you updates about things you don’t care about. When you tap the PS button, you’ll see an “official news” card, which lists a handful of news blips—trailers, announcements, that sort of thing—about “your games.” Most of the games listed appear to be those you follow on your PS5, but that doesn’t mean the information you get is relevant.
This morning, my news tab offered up five stories about games I haven’t played in years (Red Dead Redemption 2, Rocket League, For Honor thrice), one story about a game I no longer play on PlayStation (Destiny 2), one story about a game I’ve never played on PlayStation (Fortnite), and one story about a game I’ve played fewer than five hours of (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare). Just two stories were relevant to games I’m currently into (Godfall, Spider-Man: Miles Morales).
Some on social media have posited that the PS5 automatically follows every game in your library, but a scroll through my library this morning revealed that not to be the case. Some games I’ve played mere months ago (Dreams, Wasteland 3, Tales of Zestiria) aren’t followed, while plenty I haven’t played in years are. I haven’t actively unfollowed any games before this morning. It’s unclear what determines whether or not a game is automatically followed—or not followed—by your PS5. (Kotaku has asked Sony to clarify the factors behind which games the PS5 automatically follows.)
As far as I can tell, there’s also no tidy list anywhere—on the PlayStation app, on the PlayStation website, or on the console itself—that lists all the games you’ve followed. When it comes to cleaning up your feed, there are three methods you can use to unfollow a game, none of which are exactly user-friendly:
If you open up the official news card and click on any item, you’ll see a three-dot menu at the bottom. Opening that will give you an option to unfollow whatever game the blip is about. You can then use the shoulder bumper button to tab through news items. The three-dot-menu should stay automatically selected, so you don’t need to tab down to it with each new news story.Every game on your dashboard has a three-dot menu, where you’ll find an option to unfollow the game. (If you’ve not followed the game, you’ll instead see a “follow” option.) The PS5’s main dashboard can only hold up to eight icons, so that’s not quite helpful. Games will only show up on your dash if they’re among the most recent games you’ve played. You’d really boot up Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order a year after the fact just to prematurely dodge a potential singular notification that may or may not pop up? Please.The third method is the most comprehensive, but it’s also the biggest time-sink. In your library, if you click on any icon, you’ll get taken to the game’s store page. Next to the big “play” button, you’ll see a three-dot menu, with an option to unfollow the game. Doing this for your entire library sure is a project, but, at the moment, it’s the best approach currently available.G/O Media may get a commission
First method. Note that nine blips are listed. That’s because one was deleted after the game was unfollowed.Screenshot: Sony / Kotaku
Second method. Sorry, Bugsnax!Screenshot: Sony / Kotaku
Third method. Doing this for your entire game library might take a while.Screenshot: Sony / Kotaku
If you know of any other hacks, please reveal your secrets! I’ve given up on my Instagram, but there’s still hope for my PS5.