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PlayStation has announced a new firmware update for PS4 today. The update went live a few hours ago, and you can expect a pop in your screen whenever the PS4 is switched on. This update, as discussed in the patch notes, introduces quite many additional features.

There are distinct changes to the party system and messaging. Fans can find the newly added avatars in the inventory. Parental controls have also been updated.

Party system and messaging update

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The new update will further bridge parties and messages. The requirement of different groups to chat with players is no longer necessary. PlayStation explains this new tweak in their blog.

Both apps will now use the same ‘Groups’ of players for Party voice chats and message exchanges, instead of having different groups setup across the two apps. So now you can start a Party chat or send a message to the group you’ve previously chatted with across PS4, as well as PS5 when it launches.”

New avatars

Gamers use their favorite avatars to personalize their profile displays. While it seems to be an insignificant part of the complete experience, avatars are what the community sees besides the player tag.

The new avatars are from various fan-favorite titles. Few of those are recent releases like Ghost of Tsushima, The Last of Us Part II, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End.

Updated parental controls

The flexibility in parental control is far more now, courtesy of this update. Children can ask their parents for permission in particular games, and parents will get an email to which they can respond to as they deem fit.

Read morePS5 Might Just Be The Quietest Console Ever

New PlayStation update is more problematic than helpful

The newest update has sparked quite a few issues in many cases. People started posting about it soon after it went live. This will probably be Sony’s last major update for PS4 before all support for older versions is stopped.

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It seems like Sony has entirely lifted its focus from PS4 as the PS5 launch approaches. There are speculations that this move is intentional to coax customers into buying the PS5 and push its sales.

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This incident might also propel some adverse publicity that Sony could best do without at the moment. Nonetheless, it would be an intelligent move to not download the update right away and wait for it to be fixed.

Read the complete patch notes here. Watch this space for more PlayStation news.