When the new case and box art design template for PS5 games was first shown off, the updated black PS5 logo on the white bar across the top was criticized by some for appearing weird next to the game’s actual blue plastic case. It looks like Sony may have made a stealth change to the PS5 case design, now opting for a black plastic case to match the new black and white aesthetic of the logo and top bar. The new rumor comes courtesy of 2K, who tweeted out images of the NBA 2K21 box art featuring a black plastic case.
Two images were featured, one for the base edition and one for the Mamba Forever edition. Both were on a more standard black DVD or PC game style case, rather than the signature blue that has become the PlayStation standard over the last 10 years or so. This transparent blue was also featured on the original reveal of the new PS5 physical case cover design.
Curiously, that tweet now appears to have been deleted, though the original images above were captured by PlayStation Universe before the tweet went away. Without official word from Sony about the change, however, our best guess is that these were mockups by 2K, done using a standard black case for a background rather than an actual PS5 case, hence the now-deleted tweet. Look at the comparison of the NBA 2K21 case with the original Spider-Man Miles Morales case reveal by Sony:
The size and shape (and angle) of the NBA 2K21 appears to be slightly different altogether, and the logo has been stretched (ever so slightly) to fit the wider case, making us think this is just an unofficial mockup and Sony is still committed to using the transparent blue cases for PS5 games. We’ve reached out to Sony for confirmation and will update when we have more information.
Blue does fit in with Sony’s PS5 aesthetic. While the console made a pretty big design change to a white and black color scheme, it still uses blue accents for the lighting, both on the console itself and the DualSense controller. The subtle blue edge of the PS5 case matches that design choice and maintains a strong familiarity of “blue” as the PlayStation brand color, while letting the actual case art look quite different from PS4 games. For games that will be sitting on store shelves, choices about brand familiarity like that are important to make to quickly communicate things to consumers. And though the box arts for both of the above games hides it, there’s a thin dark blue accent running between the white bar and box art, so Sony clearly hasn’t abandoned blue.
So we’re calling this one debunked for now. No, the PS5 case design probably didn’t get a stealth update from transparent blue to black. It just got an unapproved mockup used in a tweet before being hastily taken down for misrepresenting what PS5 retail games cases will look like.
