In over ten years of covering PlayStation, we’ve never seen this kind of sleuthing before. Tweak Town has been keeping an eagle-eye on Sony Interactive Entertainment’s exports, and has uncovered a ledger for 700kgs worth of video game console prototypes, shipped from its headquarters in London to Norfolk, Virginia.
The package, made up of four cartons, was shipped on 16th November, 2021 late last year – although why it was sent to Virginia specifically is a mystery. PlayStation’s main headquarters in the United States are in San Mateo, although it does have Sony Electronics subsidiaries on the Eastern seaboard. Presumably they were picked up from Norfolk and sent on for the second leg of their journey.
So, what could this be? Well, realistically, it’s probably nothing. We suppose it’s possible they could be related to PSVR2, which would make sense given the timing – or more likely they’re just PS5 prototypes. We quite like this rumour, though: we’ve all seen our fair share of patents and trademarks over the years, but never international shipping ledgers before.
What do you think was in those large cartons? Do your detective work in the comments section below.
[source seair.co.in, via tweaktown.com]
Comments 43
Vita 2, incoming!
@RogerRoger Seems accurate
New playstation themed mugs for us tea lovers
PS5 Slim pls, I beg of you Sony.
Incoming Slim 'n' Lite PS5!
There is no way that a slim or a pro is happening right now or in the next few years
Four Nintendo Playstation prototypes were found and sent to a collector... for a high price.
Ps5 Pro, prove me wrong.
That's one hell of a clickbait headline 😆😆👍 those crates could contain lootbox items, the Ark of the Covenant and Marmite for ex-pats in America for all we know.
@FatallyYours117 I wouldn't be so sure, I mean they've already revised the innards by reducing the size of the heat sink so some extra trimming could well be in order, especially if the chip set also gets a cut in die size (AMD were working on this already, I believe).
Might even end up with something console sized?
@get2sammyb 700kgs? I mean I knew the PS5 was fat but 4 @ 175Kgs each? Blimey...
@FatallyYours117 These consoles were well into development before the PS5 even shipped, even the PS6 at this point is in its R&D phase. The Ps4 had slim and pro models by year 3 and we're already cruising through year 2.
I'd just like a PS5...
I doubt it's anything to do with PSVR2 if the rumour by PSVR Without Parole is true, that it won't be out till early next year.
@sanderson72 there is no way, everyone is waiting on certain chips, but Sony will not have just sat around waiting for them to turn up, they will be making the shells and the rest of the innards for the standard ps5 ready for the missing parts. They will have warehouses full of them that they'll want to shift before they change the design of the playstation. Internal revisions will happen constantly. Major redesigns and "pro" consoles will not happen for years if at all. The ps5 has been out for just over a year and it can't get to retail stores, they are not going to bother trying to figure out slim or pro versions to ship around the world during a pandemic, a war and a chip shortage
@Dubbicakes there is no way a pro and a ps6 is "well into development" 😂
And the pro and slim models of ps4 or ps3 happened during a time of plenty and of excess. We are in a total gridlock for certain tech right now, let alone a worldwide major pandemic and now a major conflict in the centre of Europe, driving prices of everything upwards
Obviously gotta be a Vita 2. What else could it possibly be!?
Games Press/Internet: So where did the box go? Is it a new console/devkit?!🤔🤯
Playstation towers: It's being handled by TOP MEN!....😋😂
Norfolk huh?! Only a few hours from me, will drive down a take a look for you guys, will report back!!
Dreamcast 2 confirmed, thanks Nintendo.
@Bamila or coffee
My money is on PS6!
@FatallyYours117 Technology is still advancing even if they can’t make enough of what we want now. The slim means taking advantage of that to use less resources so it absolutely will happen and will improve availability.
A pro based on a larger chip seems highly unlikely in the current climate of shortages.
@FatallyYours117 There is a difference between development and production. Research and Development happens whether or not a finalized product is produced.
To honestly believe that Mark Cerny and the rest of the R&D division of Playstation aren't preparing for future revisions or successors is ridiculous.
@Dubbicakes OK, do you know how I know this isn't a pro or slim model, it's simple and logical.
Remember way back ago, around 2/3 years ago, when we first got leaks of the ps5 faceplate, and then Chinese factories producing the consoles, we had a bunch of "insiders" claiming things, the rumor mill started up. It was a hive of activity and information on a highly prized and wanted electronic device.
Where are the pretend insiders, the leaks design documents, the blurry factory photos? No rumours. No news. Because it isn't happening. The pretend insiders are still just about arguing whether there's going to be a state if play in the near future, and because a few boxes of presumably psvr2 dev kits have been sent for testing and distribution in America, some people have jumped to the conclusion that its a pro or slim model, when there is nothing backing that up. At all. The psvr2 connection is at least remotely possible as there is eventualy some info and traction around that product, so they will be sending test versions out to various people around the world. We knew that psvr2 was a thing, we had info, we had design mock ups, we had leaked photos of various icons and packaging for ages, so that could possibly be tied to this, at a stretch. Most likely it's dev kits.
The pro and slim are not in development. Planning? Possibly. On paper and a few technicians heads. If the rumours start mounting up, and dodgy evidence starts popping up and points to things in that direction, I'll believe the possibility. Until then, they are having enough issues getting the base versions of PS5's being made, in a post covid world, current war setting Europe, and price hikes across the board.
Imagine splitting up your player base even further, with a product that can barely be made? It's laughable
My money’s on dev kits.
This is the highly touted and secret PS5 Fat..ter. Sony is going against the grain.
@FatallyYours117 What are you on about? DEVELOPMENT has nothing to do with production and takes place years before entering a production phase. Years before a Chinese factory has the designs from DEVELOPMENT to produce any product.
PLANNING IS DEVELOPMENT. What a joke of a conversation. To be so dense to think that all R&D have on the PS5 successors are a couple notes on paper is absurd. Goodbye.
I’d be amazed if Sony weren’t beavering away on a slim PS5.
I actually wonder if this is a PS2 Classic or something.... Imagine that!
@Dubbicakes maybe you should check the definitions of planning and development.
@lolwhatno
Barely anyone has a regular PS5, cool the engines there buddy
Could be prototypes of ps5 Pro
It's the new codename "Playstation Stream". I thought this was known?
It's supposed to be a 4K streamer approximately the size of a Vita TV with an onboard SoC for media and share functions only.
Expected to release with a base 1 year month of both codename "Spartacus" and Bravia Core, it's Sony's attempt to drastically undercut Xbox Live and the SeriesS by offering similar visuals at less than half the price of the SeriesS . After that you have to pay on a similar tier as the rest of the PS services.
Still in testing, which is why they are shipping them to various countries for internet testing -but they use a modified Kraken compression technique to achieve higher bandwidth for 4K on lower tier ISP rates. It also will allow device to device streaming directly from a PS5 (same as the Vita TV did for the PS4).
Other tidbits - you can purchase digital games from the store - which you can stream to the PS Stream or download if you have a PS5, or get one later.
Personally, I'm not a streamer guy, but I'm curious if this will be successful or do a Stadia and tank hard. $120 with a DualSense and 1 year of Spartacus and CORE does sound pretty interesting! (plus you get to keep the DS for your PS5- WIN!)
It could be a new Nintendo PlayStation!
Pretty sure it's PSVR2 related... Most likely dev kits, but possibly mocked up hardware for hands on feedback (something in previous generations staff would have made the trip to peruse, but what with pandemics and wars and what-not...)
@Party_Cannon I really like this idea, but with the flop of yesteryear I can't see Sony taking that chance again. Would be pretty cool though, and would certainly take the fight to xbox. I have 3 DualSense' so wouldn't really need another, pretty sure that it'd cost a helluva lot more than £60 without though... And with Sony's prowess in the TV market I'd be more inclined to believe that they'd just make an app for that. Although being Sony it'll probably only be available on Sony android TV's from a previous generation and newer, most likely setting the bar from 2020's X90H/X9005...
Secret NIS military weapons.
Yeeeah, no; while Tweaktown's idea of travking Sony's internal shipping is a novel idea, Occam's razor suggests that this is probably a whole lotta nothing, aggressively misunderstood.
Not only did the source for this miss you guys' obvious inference that it's only natural for a point of import to line up with the border it entered in instead of its final destination (even failing to make the connection after noting that Sony's made numerous contemporaneous shipments from Japan and Korea to California), but the entire premise that a worldwide consolidation of miscellaneous dev hardware to a central location correlates to a mass distribution of next-gen hardware from that or another location is a wildly unfounded reverse-logic leap.
I've worked in QA for a world-class computing company before (not Sony), and let me tell you, developing and validating this sort of stuff generates a lot of alpha-and-beta e-waste in the form of both major and minor hardware revisions. New stuff is continually fanning out, and every batch of trade-secret chips, every stick of next-gen RAM, every preproduction system chassis has to be tracked, monitored, and safely locked up when not in use. It's a necessary, but costly and, frankly, risky amount of overhead to duplicate across multiple sites in multiple geos.
The PS5 launched, what, 16 months ago now? Even with the notorious supply chain issues, Sony has had plenty of time to bring all their sites up to speed with production hardware now, which means that all the thousands of pieces of half-functional, half-assembled preproduction units that have accumulated in sites across the world are now officially obsolete and useless - but still carry the risk of myriad trade secrets locked within. I'd bet dollars to donuts that this is just a global housekeeping push to audit and centralize all leftover stock from PS5 development, nothing more and nothing less.
Ps5: live service edition. The console that you'll pay for it forever!
Boring (most likely) answer: Something to do with VR2
Slight more interesting/less likely answer: Maybe a PS5 slim prototype? Sony may be fast tracking it to try and mitigate supply problems.
@Party_Cannon I've heard crazier rumours, TBH. It would help show that Sony is serious about this streaming/subscription stuff
Its the revised PS5 that doesn't ask you to choose over quality or performance
Most likely is PSVR2, not getting my hopes up for a PS5 Slim or Pro.
I have made account just to say FatallyYours117 is wrong, and that with 99% certainty PS5 pro's chip gonna be 3nm one, and it's well into development since PS5 was released.
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