How PS5 Gives You Those Game Activity Estimates

The PS5 comes loaded with bundles of new UI features, and one of the most user-friendly is its activity cards. The cards, set by the developers, help point you in the direction of features or events, and can come with integrated video guides to help you through tough spots. They even outline how long an activity is expected to take, and that process is more complex and personalized than you might think.

In an article revolving around Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and game difficulty from Axios, Insomniac game director Mike Daly outlined how the activity cards work. While developers do set their own estimate for completing a task, that's just the first step of the process. The system then takes that estimate and compares it to average completion times from other PSN players to make sure the estimate and average will roughly match up. Then it checks that against your own pace--making the estimate a little longer if you're taking your time, or a little shorter if you're speeding your way through.

It's a neat feature, and works well with Ratchet & Clank's general approach toward game difficulty. As Daly said, the team approached the game trying to "enable everybody to have the experience they want to have."

That approach appears to have paid off. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart sold very well in the latest NPD figures, and current trophy data shows almost 50% of players have finished the story campaign, a relatively high number. (By comparison, about 17% of players have completed the story in the similarly family-friendly Sackboy: A Big Adventure.)