Sony PlayStation 5 Unveiled: Here's Your First Look

Sony has finally unveiled the PlayStation 5, putting an end to months of concept renders and designs. However, upon taking a look at the final design of the PlayStation 5, it is clear that the renders were on to something, since Sony has gone for a somewhat outlandish appeal with its next generation console. For the PS5, Sony will have two different variants of the console – one with a 4K Blu-Ray drive, and a second all-digital edition, akin to what Microsoft did with the Xbox One S. However, overall reaction to the design language of the console may be divided, as many have come out with a rather strong opinion against the console.

In terms of the overall design, the PlayStation 5 has a vertically standing design, hence making it similar in form to Microsoft’s PS5-rivalling Xbox Series X. It has a black inner chassis, with outer ‘fins’ that taper inward. On the Blu-Ray edition, there is a massive bulge towards the base of the console stand to accommodate for the optical drive, which looks rather ungainly since it breaks the flow of the design aesthetic that Sony has gone for. Given the way the fins of the new console is designed, it appears that the PS5 will ideally want to be placed vertically only, which also restricts the way it can fit for many users. The PlayStation 4 had a neat, horizontal placement, and users upgrading may find this a tad bit annoying.

Apart from that, Sony has retained cool blue lighting on the PlayStation 5 around its ventilation pores that lie between the PS5’s central chassis and the outer edges. The console’s new generation DualSense controller, which was shown earlier this year, somewhat matches the new design language of more curves over straight edges. At the front, the console has a USB-C and a USB-A port, which will likely serve for charging and other purposes. Sony has stuck to this new design language and unveiled a host of accessories to go with the console as well. These include a new Sony Pulse 3D wireless headset, a media remote for the console, a DualSense charging dock and a webcam, presumably for recording live streams, gameplay sessions and other videos.

Sony has not announced the pricing of the new PlayStation 5, which will go on sale later this year, some time around October or November. The PS5 is expected to be on the pricier side of things, but has vouched for support for thousands of PS4 game titles. Some specifications of the console have already been announced, which include a custom AMD Zen 2 processor, 825GB of SSD space, and a custom graphics processor with Ray Tracing and other benefits. Some of PS5’s gameplay has also been shown, flaunting the overall processing power that the new console will come with.