Sony has swiftly moved to shut down a third-party manufacturer who was offering custom faceplates for the new PS5 console.
The Platestation faceplate had gained some media traction as a potential alternative for gamers who found the penguin-like black and white PS5 design unappealing.
PlateStation5.com began taking pre-orders for Chromatic, Cherry Red, Matte Black and Indigo Blue and even Jungle Camo faceplates for £32/$40 and for both the standard and digital edition PS5.
The site said the design was “born out of the single desire to create a Matte Black custom faceplate, simply because we believed it was what the PS5 community deserved.”
Related: Best PS5 games
However, following legal action from Sony, the retailer has now cancelled all of the pre-orders. The site, now rebranded as CustomizeMyPlates, after a precious legal complaint from Sony, told VGC:
“Before we launched, we did our due diligence and were of the opinion, that because Sony only had pending patents on the faceplates there would be no problem.
“But after only a day of our website being live, Sony’s lawyers asked us to change our name (at the time PlateStation5), due to trademark infringements. We thought this switch would be enough to keep everyone happy, and honestly were hoping so since we were already underway with our product development.
“But then Sony’s lawyers told us it was their opinion, Sony’s intellectual property extended to the faceplates, and that if we continued to sell and distribute them in any country, we would end up in court.”
The swift action comes less than three weeks before the PS5 goes on sale in the UK. It’s unclear whether Sony will launch alternative designs in the short or medium-term future.
While the concept designers out there have envisioned the console in all-black and classic PlayStation grey, Sony is tight-lipped on future editions. However, it has hinted that the black and white console is only the launch edition.
“While this is the flagship/reference, you can count on even more beautiful (and hopefully radical) special editions,” PlayStation VP of UX Design Matt MacLaurin wrote on LinkedIn back in June (via DenOfGeek).
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
