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The PlayStation 5 won't launch until next fall, but a leaked Sony patent revealed an early prototype (SNE)

Sony

  • The next PlayStation will launch during the 2020 holiday season, but Sony hasn't officially revealed the new console.
  • A new patent render discovered by Dutch blog LetsGoDigital appears to show a development version of the PlayStation 5, designed by Sony technical director Yasuhiro Ootori.
  • LetsGoDigital said that patent image was published by the World Intellectual Property Office.
  • Historically, early development kits for new video game consoles don't always match up to the final product, but it's still an interesting look at how the next PlayStation is shaping up.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The next generation of video game consoles will arrive during the 2020 holiday season, but both Microsoft and Sony have yet to reveal the design of the PlayStation 5 or the next Xbox, codenamed Project Scarlett.

But a patent image discovered by Dutch blog LetsGoDigital may have given us an early look at what the development kit for the PlayStation 5 looks like. The image appeared in a patent application filed by Sony with the World Intellectual Property Office.

The design is credited to Sony technical director Yasuhiro Ootori. Ootori was involved in the launch of the PlayStation 4 back in 2013, going so far as to take the console apart piece by piece in an interview with Wired.

At least one person in the video game industry confirmed that this is a development kit for the PlayStation 5. Matthew Stott, an artist for Codemasters, tweeted that his office had a dev kit matching the patent. Stott later deleted the tweet, then his entire Twitter account, which may have violated a non-disclosure agreement with Sony.

In an October interview with Sony, Wired Magazine noted that the PlayStation 5 development kit Sony showed them looked similar to the patent images, but Sony declined to talk about how the dev kit could influence the final design of the PlayStation 5. 

It should be noted that development kits for new consoles rarely look the same as the finished product, but it's still interesting to know that Sony's new hardware is already in the hands of developers. 

Read more: The 8 most important details we already know about PlayStation 5, Sony's next-generation video game console

Sony has teased some of the features coming to the PlayStation 5, including a solid-state hard drive for faster loading times, ray tracing graphics with 8K resolution, and backwards compatibility with PlayStation 4 games. Microsoft promised similar features for its Xbox successor, Project Scarlett, at E3 in June. Scarlett has been confirmed for a November 2020 release, while Sony has not been specific about the PlayStation 5's launch date.

Check out the design from other angles below:

Here's the view from the front.Sony via LetsGoDigital

This view shows how the patent design features empty space and an angular, V-shaped form.Sony via LetsGoDigital

Here's the view from the bottom.Sony via LetsGoDigital

And here's the view from the back of the hardware.Sony via LetsGoDigital

See Also:

SEE ALSO: A bunch of PlayStation 5 details just got unveiled: Here's everything we know

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