Sony opens up public PS4 firmware beta testing program

Sony is pulling back the curtain on its development process a bit by opening up a public beta testing program for its PlayStation 4 firmware updates in the West (the company has maintained a semi-public PS4 firmware beta testing program in Japan for some time.)

It's a notable step for Sony, which has hit some rough patches with prior PlayStation 4 firmware updates -- including the 2.0 update late last year, which caused some PlayStation 4 consoles to experience boot errors for the better part of a week and created headaches for developers releasing games on the platform during that period.

Competitor Microsoft has been running a similar semi-public beta program for select Xbox One owners since early last year, though that program is still invite-only.

Sony's offering is a bit different: Any PlayStation 4 owner with a master account and an Internet connection can register their interest in participating in the beta program, which starts next month, and beta testers will be able to roll their consoles back to the previous (stable) firmware version at any time.