In what could either be a very clever piece of marketing or a conscious decision to let go of one of the year’s worst-kept secrets, Sony seemingly confirmed the look of the next PlayStation hardware refresh without any of the pomp and circumstance typically reserved for this kind of rollout.
PlayStation fans noticed a familiar-looking image sitting dead center in Sony’s official graphic commemorating the gaming brand’s upcoming 30th anniversary, first spotted by Wario64 on X. Among the silhouettes of retro and modern PlayStation hardware was an odd-looking PlayStation 5. In fact, it seemed to be a one-to-one match of a hand-drawn mock-up for the PlayStation 5 Pro leaked just a week ago.
Like the drawing published by French publication Dealabs last week, this PS5 had three stripped running across its center instead of the one like last year’s PlayStation 5 Slim.
The graphic was published on the PlayStation Blog, noting this week’s release of the excellent Astro Bot, special events ahead, and a lineup of product releases celebrating the milestone through the remainder of the year.
“As we celebrate 30 years of play, these upcoming activities and releases are just a taste of what’s to come,” the blog reads.
The near future they’re referring to, evidently, was right now. As noted by The Verge, Sony’s Instagram account seemingly acknowledged the tease, posting a portrait- mode version of the anniversary graphic with the same three-stripped PS5 featured prominently. Sony included a link that cheekily reads “your first look” and an eyes emoji.
When Dealabs shared its alleged knowledge of the device, it reported an announcement was slated for the first half of this month. I doubt that this stealth reveal is the announcement they were referring to. But when nearly the entire industry’s been clued in on Sony’s plans to release a slightly more powerful version of their current generation console for about a year now, I guess it's only right that they have a bit of fun in the lead-up to the actual announcement.
If you somehow missed it, the official details of the hardware upgrade were first reported by The Verge earlier this year. The Pro variant of the PS5 will feature a more powerful GPU, a more efficient CPU, and expanded system memory.
The PS5 is due for a second hardware refresh. A year ago, Sony phased out the console’s original design and replaced it with the lighter and shorter PS5 Slim with a removable disc drive.
