Update: Sony announced that PS4 software update 2.50 will release on Thursday, March 26, adding Suspend/Resume, enhanced Trophy options, and more to the system. Check out the original story below for more details.
If you’re the sort of player who likes to clear one game at a time, dropping back in over the course of many evenings, PlayStation 4’s next big system update is worth celebrating. Sony has confirmed (opens in new tab) that software update 2.50 will enable the console’s long-awaited Suspend/Resume feature, among a bunch of other handy tweaks and additions.
It’s been a little more than two years since the feature was trumpeted alongside PS4’s grand reveal… so what does it do, again? It’s pretty simple: instead of shutting down your games every time you put the system in rest mode, Sony says “nearly all PS4 titles” will now let you enter low-power mode while preserving your place in the game.
As long as your system doesn’t lose power, you can come back an hour / day / week / month later and pick up right where you left off – no lengthy loading screens necessary (yes, I am giving you some serious side-eye right now, GTA 5 (opens in new tab)). You should still save before you leave off for a while, though, since you never know when you’ll have a system crash or power outage.
Suspend/Resume aside, update 2.50 will also improve a bunch of existing stuff. For one, you’ll be able to Remote Play and Share Play at 60 frames per second, assuming you have the network conditions to support it. Trophies get automatic screenshots of your moments of triumph, and you can even improve your completion rate by removing games with 0 percent completion from your Trophy list.
The system will become more accessible with new options like text-to-speech and button reassignment, which is good news for players with disabilities and for folks who just can’t stand clicking the sticks to press L3/R3. And soon you’ll be able to upgrade PlayStation Network sub-account users who have outgrown their account restrictions straight from the system.
Your Share button will get a bit more potent with the option to upload straight to video sharing site Dailymotion, and lastly you’ll be able to search for Facebook friends on PSN using a linked account.
Pretty nice update, there. That release date of “soon” can’t come soon enough.