PS5 game player counts are finally coming — but it won’t help you
Sony is beta testing a new “Community Activity” widget for the PS5’s Welcome Hub that will display weekly player counts for games, bringing PlayStation’s transparency closer to Steam’s model. The feature offers two viewing options: “Top 10” ranks the most popular games by weekly player count, while “Trending Now” highlights games experiencing surging popularity based on gameplay hours or match counts. Unlike Steam’s concurrent player metrics, which show active players at any given moment, PlayStation’s tracker displays the total number of unique players who launched a game within the past seven days.
Beta data from the United States reveals the current player landscape, with Fortnite leading significantly at 14.6 million weekly players, followed by GTA V (5.13 million), Minecraft (4.97 million), Call of Duty (4.95 million), and Apex Legends (1.72 million). The widget is region-specific, with localized top-ten lists for different countries.
While player count visibility could help gamers discover popular titles, industry observers note potential drawbacks. The feature may amplify toxic gaming discourse around player populations and struggling franchises. Additionally, PlayStation Store discoverability already presents challenges, and this widget doesn’t necessarily address underlying discovery problems—it simply highlights what’s already dominant, potentially entrenching established titles and making it harder for emerging games to gain traction.
The Community Activity widget represents Sony’s effort to match Steam’s transparency while adapting the approach to match PS5’s infrastructure and player engagement metrics. The feature remains in active beta testing as Sony gathers feedback before broader rollout.