Gaming
Weird-looking PS5 dev kit almost sold on eBay for more than $3,000
Two dev kits briefly appeared on eBay but were ultimately removed... but not before starting a bidding war.
A dev kit is a beefed-up version of a video game console that sometimes varies slightly or looks completely different than the consumer version, with extra ports and features not meant for the general public. The Nintendo Switch dev kit shown is an example.
One dev’s trash...
Dev kits randomly surface once in a while, such as this PS4 dev kit from the Sleeping Dogs studio United Front, or this Dreamcast dev kit hard drive which contained a Simpsons tech demo that never got a greenlight. That’s unusual enough, but a recent eBay find takes the cake (via Kotaku).
Twitter user @iDCx1337, the owner of a PlayStation 4 user, stumbled across not just one but two PlayStation 5 dev kits on eBay. The listing for the DFI-T1000AA, which looks very similar to the standard PlayStation 5, got taken down, but the one for the DFI-D1000AA remained, racking up a huge bid before also being pulled.
€2,850
The amount comes out to about $3,374 — almost seven times the price of a standard PlayStation 5.
Do I know you?
If you recognize the V-shaped dev kit, think back to the heyday of PlayStation 5 rumors, when leaks of the dev surfaced. Many speculated that the PlayStation 5 would look like that, which looks like a mix between a Ferrari engine and a tower server. Honestly, after seeing the PlayStation 5, I’m not mad at the V-shaped design, but it does look weird.
The dev kit has a glossy removable faceplate and appears to have one USB-C port and five USB-A ports. The console has physical buttons for turning on and resetting. What resembles a button is located above the USB ports, but it’s unclear what it does. The other dev kit is only shot from the back and is blurred out.
Blacked out
Along with the dev kit, two PlayStation 5 controllers were listed, sporting an all-black design that is in contrast with the standard two-tone white and black design of the standard DualSense controllers.
It’s interesting to wonder who put these up or if they contained any games, but both listings were removed from the platform probably at the behest of some large Japanese-based video game corporation. Either way, it’s nice to get another look at the bizarro-world PlayStation 5 that never was; at least this one can’t be mistakenly placed upside down.