Closing an application or video game on the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Digital Edition can be a bit confusing, especially if you aren’t familiar with the new user interface. If you are having issues, you can follow this guide at Seeking Tech.
What causes an application or game to automatically close on PS5
Depending on your actions, an application or video game will automatically close depending on certain actions.
For instance, you have to close the active software if you want to adjust HDR in the system menu.
The Switcher function will also close the active videogame if you decide to switch to another game.
Simply launching another game from the Home Screen will close the active game as well.
Of course, completely turning off your PlayStation 5 system will also close the active software.
What won’t cause an application or game to automatically close on PS5
There are also actions that won’t close your active application or game.
These include putting your system in rest mode, which will suspend the game and let you pick up where you left off in most cases for offline games.
Going from the game to either the Control Center or Home Menu screens won’t close the active application or game either.
How to manually close games on PS5
In order to manually close games on the PlayStation 5 (as well as the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition), you can take the following steps:
1. In the game, press and hold the PS button on your DualSense until we are in the Home Screen (aka the main system menu). If you press the PS button instead of holding it, you will bring up the Control Center quick menu instead. If that happens to you, you can simply press the PS button again to go back into the game; afterwards, hold the PS button to go to the Home Screen.
2. In the home screen, you need to highlight the current active game and then press the Options button on your DualSense (which is the small button, with the three horizonal lines, located to the left of the triangle button), to bring up a sub-menu. In here, you simply select “Close Game” to manually close the current videogame you are playing.
3. If you don’t see the “Close Game” option, then the wrong game may have been highlighted. On the other hand, this might mean that the game has already been closed.
How to manually close apps on PS5
1. In order to manually close applications on the PS5 (as well as the PS5 Digital Edition), you need to take the following steps:
2. While you are in an application, press and hold the PS button until you open the Home Screen.
3. From the Home Screen, make sure you highlight the active app and then press the Options button on your DualSense controller.
4. This will bring up a sub-menu where you can select “Close App” to close the application you are currently using.
5. If you don’t see the “Close App” option, then either the wrong application was highlighted or the active app may have already been closed.
Keep in mind that Sony separated the list of media applications and games with the PS5 and PS5 Ditial Edition. You can switch between your game collection and media app collection with either the L1 or R button on your DualSense controller.