It looks like Sony has dropped the next rumor about the PlayStation 5 Pro themselves.
A week ago, billbil-kun revealed some details about the long anticipated console. Among other things, they described the hardware’s physical appearance. They made an illustration that shows that there are three stripes that run across the middle of the PlayStation 5 Pro, and that these lines would differentiate it from the older model.
Yesterday, Sony revealed plans to celebrate PlayStation’s 30 year anniversary. But what has generated interest was not something Sony said. Instead, it was something they showed.
As billbil-kun pointed out, a picture that Sony shared for the occasion showed some faint outlines of their hardware in the background. And one of those outlines appeared to show a PlayStation 5 with those three stripes in the middle of the console.
If you may not have noticed, the featured image we used for this article has the same picture of a PlayStation with three stripes as well. Feel free to zoom in between the PlayStation logo, and the 30 in our picture to see it.
So with Sony themselves seeming to confirm billbil-kun’s rumor, they have lent credence to the other details from their rumor as well.
And part of billbil-kun’s rumor was that Sony would make the official announcement for the PlayStation 5 Pro in the first half of September. Well, this week is ending today, so unless Sony squeezes that announcement later today, that announcement would have to arrive sometime next week.
While billbil-kun described them as lines, it looks like these aren’t just illustrated around the console. They are physical grooves along the sides of the console, or as we have described them in the headline, as ribbing, like the indentations across an animal’s spine.
This pattern is common in hand sized devices, as something that gives those gadgets more grip so that they can be more easily grabbed and held onto. In this case, the ribbing seems to be more decorative than practical, but it’s a familiar design language that would presumably tell consumers that they’re getting the better console.
It’s worth pointing out that this is a considerably smaller change that Sony has made to the PlayStation 5 line, compared to previous generations of PlayStation. The PlayStation 4 Pro distinguishes itself by appearing to have two layers stacked on top of each other, as opposed to the base PlayStation 4.
The PlayStation 3, in stark contrast, experienced significant redesigns as Sony iterated on it. The PlayStation and PlayStation 2 had simpler changes towards smaller hardware models, but these changes were still easier to recognize.
So there’s a real possibility that this design language will not be enough, and some gamers will be confused, or even bamboozled, into confusing the two console models. Sony may have taken this direction because they can’t afford to spend on a more drastic redesign.
Of course, if they don’t look that much different, they will certainly be priced differently. But we’ll see if these choices will create a confusion that leads to problems with marketing the console or not.
