PlayStation 5 system update lets players mute console's thunderous power-on beep

It’s finally happening. Sony is releasing an update for the PlayStation 5 that will allow players to turn down or mute the console’s thunderous power-on beep.

You know the sound I’m talking about. When you switch on or wake up your PlayStation 5, you’re immediately greeted by a very loud beep. It’s a sound that’s been the subject of many memes. There’s the classic ‘waking the wife’ joke, as some spouses try to sneak in a few more hours of gaming. Well, this morning, Sony announced a brand new beta update for the PlayStation 5. As a beta update, it’s not coming to everyone just yet. Instead, select PS5 users will be emailed asking if they want to sample the update, which includes added accessibility features, support for compatible Dolby Atmos-enabled audio devices, social feature enhancements, and larger capacity M.2 SSD support. It’s the new beep settings that have caught everyone’s eye though.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 swings onto our consoles on 20 October.

Over on the PlayStation Blog, the change was revealed under the ‘Ease-of-use features’ category. The post read, “You can now mute or adjust the volume of the PS5’s beep sound when turning it on or off, or putting it in rest mode.” To do so, enter your settings, following by system, and then select ‘Beep Sound’. Here you can either adjust the volume, or mute the beep sound completely.

As I mentioned it’s a beta update, so select PS5 users in the US, Canada, Japan, UK, Germany and France will be notified if they’re selected. Sony do note that they’ll be releasing the update globally later this year.

Over on Reddit, users flocked to discuss their thrill at the update. User 3rid wrote, “That was the most annoying thing about gaming late at night,” while MidwayJ added, “Does anyone else fake cough/throat clear at the exact second of the beep to try and hide it lol?” CrunchyConniptions said, “Never been more excited for a change for the PS5.” Someone asked if they could turn it up louder. What an incredibly cursed thought to have.