Sony released a mandatory PlayStation 4 system update today with version 5.53. Weighing in at around 440 MB, the PS4 firmware update is a small improvement to the performance of the console ahead of next week’s God of War launch. Sony likely also used this small update to patch up any holes that might allow the console to become vulnerable to piracy and hacking. As usual, these details are often kept out of the patch notes. Engineers are always looking at ways to improve stability, performance, and security, which is where these periodic patches come in.
PlayStation 4 Firmware Update 5.53 Patch Notes
- This system software update improves system performance.
Users on ResetEra have also discovered that the update adds some visibility to user tracking and data collection. To be clear, data collection was already a part of the PS4 and is baked into many games. It’s how stats for single-player games like Horizon are possible. After the update, multiple users reported getting a notification screen regarding their own user data collection.
Again, let’s be clear. PS4 system update 5.53 does not add in any new data collection or user tracking of any kind. The console has already been collecting and tracking your data in order to provide relevant suggestions in the PlayStation Store and to give anonymous data to developers about their games and how they are played.
What PlayStation 4 firmware update 5.53 does is add in increased visibility and clearer messaging to comply with Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Without getting into specifics, GDPR is a ruling passed by the EU in 2016 that regulates how companies can collect, manage, and share user data. The regulation asks for messaging to be more prominently displayed and users to be made more aware of when their data is being collected and what it is being used for.
What do you think of PS4 system update 5.53? Did you know that Sony was collecting this much data from its users? Last month’s update 5.50 added some new features to the console, so if stability and visibility on data collection aren’t your thing, go check out those patch notes.
[Source: PlayStation, ResetEra]
