PlayStation's 30th Anniversary themes are leaving at the end of January

Sony says they may return in some capacity in the future, and it will be exploring more opportunities to celebrate PlayStation's history.

Image via PlayStation
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Back in December 2024, PlayStation celebrated its 30th anniversary by giving players free themes for the PS5 that were focused on emulating the sounds and vibes of the PS1, PS2, and PS3. They were cool and fun, and representative of the fact that the PS5 is capable of running themes like the PS4 before it. Unfortunately, these themes were “limited-time” and that time limit is about to be up. The themes are going away at the end of January, although Sony has teased that it could bring them back.

PlayStation shared details on the removal of the 30th Anniversary PS5 themes on its official social media this week. On January 31, 2025, PlayStation will officially remove the themes and discontinue their use for the time being. It’s not a total loss. PlayStation saw the positive feedback and is considering bringing the themes back at a later date, as well as exploring more ways to celebrate its history, though it says further themes aren’t in the works at this time.

The 30th Anniversary PlayStation themes leaving is bitter lemons, but PlayStation very clearly marked them as limited-time from the start. It might have to do with dating the themes via the 30th Anniversary branding, but fingers crossed that’s all it is and they’ll be back in short order. The themes let players emulate the sounds and atmosphere of previous PlayStation systems, and gave us a little bit of variety on our home screens that has been missing since PS4.

With the exit of these themes, hopefully PlayStation won’t keep them away for long. Stay tuned for further updates and get ready for the themes to become unavailable on January 31 for the time being.

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on BlueSky @JohnnyChugs.

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