At this point, Sony has teased everything about the PlayStation 5 – other than the console itself. The company introduced its new DualSense controller on April 7, and it looks unlike any other PlayStation peripheral before it. A handful of fans have taken inspiration from its design to create renders of what the PS5 might look like once it finally hits store shelves holiday season.
Users of the PS5 subreddit posted mockups of the upcoming console, iterating on the DualSense’s color scheme and the basic shape of leaked developer kits. The results were as if EVE from Pixar’s Wall-E and a Stormtrooper were compacted into a rectangle.
Ambitious new design
Digital artist Paul Robinson’s design harmonizes the DualSense’s monochrome colorway and the dev kit’s V-shaped design. Its chassis is solid black with the PlayStation’s iconic blue light on its front, which is encased in bright white cover that doesn’t seem to serve any real purpose, but earns major style points.
Robinson also included the dimensions of his render 11.8 x 9.05 x 2.55 inches, which is only slightly chunkier than the PS4’s 10.8 x 12 x 2-inch dimensions. Sony is cramming much beefier hardware into the new PlayStation, including a solid-state drive and high-power GPU. A marginal increase in size to keep everything cool and running smoothly wouldn’t be out of the ordinary.
Multiple color options
A day later, graphic designer Brian C. Worton posted a trio of PS5 mockups that hew to a sleeker, more traditional look with several color variants. He ditched the white case that enveloped Robinson’s design for the PlayStation’s classic, flat surface with a V-cut, mesh panel.
The real selling point of Worton’s concept are the black, white, and gray color options, which would be a major departure from PlayStation’s past releases. Sony’s consoles have all been solid black since the PS2 in 2000, with other colors coming later in their lifecycle. The PS5 could be the first Sony console to launch with multiple color options out of the gate.
The Inverse Analysis — While easy on the eyes, both concepts may take a bit too much inspiration from the PS5’s dev kits. Sony designs dev kits to maximize performance, not for the retail market. The PS4’s dev kit was absolutely monstrous and the finalized PS4 didn’t look anything like it. Odds are Sony's plans won't resemble that V-shaped dev kit at all.
However, there’s good reason to believe the PS5 will come in various colors. Sony needs something to stand out next to Microsoft’s Xbox Series X, which has opted for a PC-tower design this time around. Offering gamers different colors with the option to mix and match their controller colors as well could be a smart business decision to get people talking about the PS5 on social media when it launches.
PS5 is set to launch in late 2020.
