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Analogue Pocket first look: the everything console - Engadget

Posted: 13 Dec 2021 08:00 AM PST

Sony offers official PS5 faceplate colors after pushing out competition - Ars Technica

Posted: 13 Dec 2021 11:30 AM PST

The faceplate trailer you've been waiting for.

After decades of purely black consoles, the PS5 stood out upon release for its use of striking, white faceplates. Now, more than a year after release, Sony is announcing a line of replacement faceplates in black and four other colors, alongside matching colored DualSense controllers.

The console covers are listed for $55 on the PlayStation Direct shop and come in options fitted for both the standard console and the disc drive-free Digital Edition. Colored controller options are listed for $75, a small premium over the $70 white DualSense controller.

The new console covers, announced this morning, will arrive in 23 countries in two waves. "Midnight Black" and "Cosmic Red" colors will be released starting on January 21, 2022, and "Nova Pink," "Galactic Purple," and "Starlight Blue" will follow in the first half of 2022. Each console cover can be removed and replaced easily without tools, as outlined on the PlayStation site (and this old teardown video).

Enlarge / A few of the coming DualSense colors.
Sony

Availability dates for the controllers are a little more confusing. Customers in the US, UK, France, and Germany can preorder the Galactic Purple controller from the PlayStation Direct shop for January 14 delivery, ahead of wider availability on February 11. The PlayStation Accessories site lists Nova Pink and Starlight Blue colors as available on January 14 as well, while Cosmic Red and Midnight Black colors are listed for a June 11 release on the PlayStation Direct store.

Enlarge / The PS5 console cover can easily be removed and replaced without tools (despite the tools pictures here).
Sony / YouTube

Sony's promotional website lists its colorful console covers as "the only console covers made by PlayStation for PS5 that are designed to deliver the quality level you know and trust." But Sony has had to take legal pains to help make that true, issuing a legal threat to one custom faceplate maker just weeks after the PS5's release last November. More recently, Sony sent a cease-and-desist letter to Dbrand alleging the company's darkplates replicated Sony's "protected product design" for the PS5 casing. Dbrand subsequently changed the design for its Darkplates 2.0, which are missing the signature waves of the standard PS5 faceplates.

The announcement of Sony's official faceplate solution comes about a month after the company was granted a design patent for the specific shape of the PS5 faceplates.

Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.

Listing image by Sony

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