A fan has designed a custom-made PlayStation 5 console that pays homage to the PlayStation 2 in order to celebrate PlayStation's 30th anniversary. The very first PThislayStation console was released in 1994, meaning that Sony's family of systems will have its 30th anniversary in 2024, four years into the lifespan of the PS5. It'll remain to be seen how Sony itself will commemorate this event.
Right now, of course, PlayStation is having far too eventful of a year to worry about 2024. The launch of the PS5 has proven to be a huge success in terms of sales, but for very few other reasons. Major retailers are facing a serious stock shortage of the new machines, made much worse by scalpers who use bots to purchase the consoles en masse and sell them at a huge markup. This has made it nigh-impossible for the average consumer to get their hands on a new console. Worse, customers who do cave and buy from an unscrupulous third party could get scammed, and receive a printed image of a PS5 instead of an actual machine.
But this tumultuous present hasn't stopped some fans from looking to the future anyway. Reddit user whattheefth has presented their interpretation of a special 30th anniversary PS5. The console has been rendered in all-black, not unlike another fan made render that was passed around as official art soon after the console was revealed. This design also cuts the PS5's distinct blue lighting almost entirely, leading to a console designed after the classic PS2, released by Sony in 2000. Modeling this fan design after the PS2 instead of the PS1 makes sense; after all, the PlayStation 2 is the single best-selling video game console of all time.
Nostalgic PS2 fans are probably disappointed that this design isn't real. But it's entirely within Sony's power to create a custom console like this once the 30th anniversary does roll around. Microsoft has already gotten pretty wild with some of its own custom designs; the company even helped fast food chain Bojangles design a special fried chicken themed Series X. Certainly, if Sony decided to design a special 30th anniversary PS5, it wouldn't have to get that ridiculous.
The PlayStation 5 represents a remarkably ostentatious design shift for Sony, and fans have all reacted to the look in different ways. But everyone has expressed an interest in customization, which is something that's been a big priority for a lot of gamers since the earliest days of console gaming. People want individuality, and to that end, merchants are already selling unofficial face plates that can be swapped in for the ones attached to the PS5. Hopefully Sony will pick up on these customization dreams and release a special edition PS5 that looks on par with whattheefth's design.
Source: whattheefth
