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The PS5 recently celebrated its first birthday, during which time more than 13.4 million of you have managed to get your hands on them. The new-gen console has been celebrated during that time, for the most part. There have been some minor complaints about the PS5, though. Its design took quite a few people by surprise when it was first revealed, and as of right now there is no alternative.
That might well be about to change. That's what a certain new patent filed by Sony has implied anyway. The document filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office shows diagrams of the PS5's covers and faceplates from a variety of different angles. The description reads “ornamental design for a cover for an electronic device”. Potential colors, patterns, and other specifics about the potential designs of the plates aren't mentioned.
PS5 faceplates have been a relatively controversial topic over the course of the past year. Third-party companies well aware of PS5 owners who don't like the console's base design have created unofficial covers and plates for the console. However, in a handful of cases, Sony has not liked that. One company, in particular, has gone back and forth with the PS5's creators. After being asked to stop, it returned and dared Sony to sue.
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A while after that, Sony followed Dbrand up on that dare and really did threaten to sue the company over its unofficial faceplates. Dbrand stepped back to regroup and then returned yet again, this time with a completely redesigned set of faceplates its creators claim improves the PS5's airflow and cools it down. The third-party faceplates have vents on either side for what is a pretty bulky fan inside the consoles.
It will be interesting to see whether Sony incorporates that sort of thing into its new faceplates and PS5 cases. It may just be alternative colors and maybe plates inspired by some of its first-party games. PlayStation has already launched the PS5's DualSense controller and 3D Pulse headset in different colors. All of the above should also be taken with a grain of salt too. While it's likely the patent is for the purpose of creating official faceplates, there has been no confirmation of that from Sony.