Sony’s next PlayStation console, known as the PlayStation 5, has had quite a bit of its details revealed in the last handful of months. Leaks include an impressive spec detailing and a demonstration of how incredibly fast the new hardware can load 2018’s Marvel’s Spider-Man provided by PlayStation’s own Mark Cerny, along with other valuable testimonials, all of which are painting Sony’s upcoming console as a powerhouse gaming device.
The only element which hasn’t even been hinted at is the console’s exterior design – which makes sense because a device’s exterior is always kept under wraps if the device is popular enough to warrant a big public reveal: a criterion that the PlayStation 5 definitely fits. A recent leak, however, may have beaten Sony to the punch in revealing what the console will look like.
Earlier this week, a dev kit for the presumed PlayStation 5 was leaked. This leak might’ve been considered as nothing more than a rumor had it not been for Matthew Scott. According to quick research done by Comicbook.com, the accredited senior artist (at Codemasters; developers of Onrush and F1) tweeted, “its a dev kit[.] we have some in the office…” followed by a link to an article about the patent, before quickly deleting it.
Shown below are some images from the patent which show wireframes of a unique looking device from different angles. Should Sony materialise these wireframes and use them as the PlayStation 5’s actual design, it would probably be hailed as the most avant-garde looking game console to ever be released to the grand public. Take a look.
Some individuals in the online gaming community have conjured conclusions which establish that this dev kit, they believe, could be a representation of the finalszed, distribution-ready PlayStation 5. According to some, however, this dev kit probably looks nothing like the console’s actual design because, according to them, final console designs mostly look entirely different from their dev kits. To support the claim, one of these individuals posted an image on Twitter of the PlayStation 4’s dev kit; a quick side-by-side comparison would quickly show that apart from the common base shape, each of the PS4’s iterations looks nothing like the PS4’s dev kit.
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However, it could be argued that since the different PlayStation 4 consoles and the dev kit all, at least, resemble a rectangular prism, the PlayStation 5 could have the canyon-like V prominently incorporated in its design; that would be a nice little design choice considering that “V” is the Roman numeral for “5” as many have noted.
Had Sony actually been eyeing this exact design for the console, however, this leak may have provided them with some valuable information. It wouldn’t take much for Sony’s executives to come to the conclusion that the average consumer probably wouldn’t be attracted to such a visually unconventional product.
A quick look at this ResetEra poll and various comment sections, such as the one under this tweet, reveals that many are considering this design quite unappealing. As a company with its stature, Sony would most likely strive to avoid such notions being placed on a product that is projected to generate an insane amount of revenue for the company.
Regardless, the bottom line is, as long as nothing is confirmed by Sony (or any key figures within the company), this dev kit may or may not represent the PlayStation 5’s actual design in any extent. It’s literally anyone’s guess, but if precedent holds, the PlayStation 5 probably won’t look like the design above because dev kits rarely ever look like the final product – a quick search can easily prove this.
Sony’s upcoming game console is around the corner. The powerful console, whose specs have some gamers saying that it’ll stand firmly as a rival to top-tier gaming PCs, is speculated to have its grand reveal in February 2020 at Sony’s PlayStation Meeting 2020 event, and that the console will launch towards the end of 2020. Although, February 2020 is still a ways away, more reveals, hints, and surprising leaks promise to keep the upcoming months exciting in the world of PlayStation.