A YouTuber has the most in-depth look the public has seen yet at a PlayStation 5 dev kit.
Macho Nacho Productions managed to get their hands on one of the elusive devices, which have so far been kept out of the public eye by developer deals, alongside patent diagrams and the occasional blurry photo.
In the video below, host Tito Perez does not specify how he obtained the development kit, but offers a close-up look at its unique design and inputs.
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Unfortunately, this particular kit doesn’t seem to be activated – something developers need to do regularly to keep their dev consoles running. That means Perez can only display a known menu system and launch nothing.
However, he can take an in-depth look at the design of the dev kit, which is radically different from the shop machine and includes several additional ports and buttons.
Sony and other platform owners have been very secretive about their development consoles in the past, which are usually not allowed to leave the studio grounds or be photographed.
Last year a few PS5 development kits appeared on eBay and the offers lasted no more than a few hours before being removed.
Last month, a new version of the PlayStation 5 was released in Australia, which is said to make the console lighter.
It is claimed that the new CFI-1200 series models of the PS5 weigh less than the launch consoles, to the extent that the standard edition with the disc drive is now as light as the digital edition at launch.
This is the second time the PS5 hardware has been revised to make it lighter. In July 2021, Sony rolled out its CFI-1100 series, which also weighed less than the launch versions.
Speaking with investors last year, Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki said the company is considering several solutions to address the global shortage of hardware components, including potentially changing product designs.
Last month, Sony made what it called the “tough decision” to increase the price of PS5 hardware in most major regions around the world.
Europe, Japan, China, Australia, Mexico and Canada all saw price increases to 12.5%, with the United States being the only major region spared the price increase.