Sony Reveals PlayStation 5’s Bizarre Final Design

Both Microsoft and Sony plan to launch new consoles at the end of 2020, but Sony’s big PlayStation 5 reveal on Thursday was more subdued than it initially intended. With the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and protests against police brutality around the globe, Sony decided a simpler pre-taped stream would be more appropriate. So, that’s what we got. The “reveal” focused on the games coming to PS5, but the console itself did pop up at the very end of the stream. It looks…interesting. 
The “Future of Gaming” stream was a little over an hour-long — you can watch the full event below. The first hour consisted of game trailers with occasional snippets of developers talking about the game. The titles Sony showed us ran the gamut from visually simple platformers to photorealistic shooters. There are even new chapters of some classic franchises. 

Sony seems to have focused mostly on exclusive titles, one of the few exceptions being GTA V. Yes, Rockstar says it will enhance the game (and its popular online component) for the PS5 in 2021. Several of the games Sony showed off looked nice enough, but they didn’t seem like games you’d need an expensive next-gen console to pull off. Then there are games like Horizon Forbidden West, Ghostwire: Tokyo, Resident Evil Village, and Spider-Man: Miles Morales that definitely will need all that power. 

Keep in mind, these are all pre-rendered trailers. We don’t know how these games will perform on the console itself. Speaking of the console, Sony finally gave us a glimpse of the final design. You might recall that wild PS5 dev kit that made the rounds a few months back. It had vents all over the place, and so does the final console. It’s a bit more elegant, but it also has quite an unusual silhouette. 

The console has a curvy white shell around the black interior frame. The shape of the white shell will depend on whether you choose the standard or “Digital Edition” console. The (presumably cheaper) digital edition doesn’t have a disc drive, so the standard console is a bit chunkier toward the bottom. There are vents running all the way up along the seam between the two materials as well. Oh, it also glows. The PS5 has what appears to be a pair of USB ports dead center on the front, one USB-A, and the other USB-C. Most of the images show the device standing up like a PC case, but a quick cut in the video also showed it on its side, supported by a small stand (see below).

One thing Sony did not talk about was pricing. Rumors point to a higher-than-usual launch price, something Microsoft may use against Sony whenever it gets around to announcing the specifics.

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