If you squint a little, you might just see the future of Sony's popular PlayStation 5 console. As pointed out by many on Reddit and gaming blogs Thursday night, Sony may have teased or inadvertently confirmed the design of its upcoming PlayStation 5 Pro game console within a blog post with a 30th-anniversary logo for the brand. An unfamiliar console with a vertical rectangle design and a diagonal stripe across the front looks an awful lot like the PS5 successor's rumored design, which would have black stripes against the familiar white slim design.
The console in the logo appears alongside many of Sony's other products over the years from the PSP portable gaming console to different iterations of its DualShock controllers.
Read more: PS5 Pro: Possible Announcement Could Be Imminent -- Here's What We Know
This comes at a time when excitement around a PS5 Pro announcement is building: rumors suggest that Sony could unveil the more powerful console, capable of better upscaling and rendering ray-traced graphics more quickly, sometime in September.
The PlayStation 5 was released in late 2020 and experts suggest the console has reached at least the midway point in its lifecycle. A PS5 Pro would extend the life of the PS5 generation with updated hardware to can keep up with games that demand more graphical horsepower, presumably including the highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6, due out next year. Sony's rivals Nintendo and Microsoft are at similar crossroads: Nintendo is expected to announce a successor to its popular Switch console and Microsoft is at work on its next major console after the Xbox Series X.
In addition to the blog image, Sony also included the (alleged) PS5 Pro in a story posted on Sept. 5 on its Instagram account.
If the rumors are true, Sony would be following the path it laid with the PlayStation 4 console; three years after that console debuted, it introduced a PS4 Pro that had more powerful hardware and cost $100 more. By that measure, a PS5 Pro could cost around $550 if it were to be introduced at a $100 premium.
In its 30th-anniversary blog post, Sony also shared information on how it'll be celebrating: in addition to the release of the new game Astro Bot, Sony will be putting out a free trial of Gran Turismo 7 in time for the holidays for PS4 and PS5 players. Starting in October, the company plans to release digital soundtracks of games including God of War, Twisted Metal and Starhawk on Spotify. There's already a curated playlist available.
Sony will also be introducing "Shapes of Play" products including a board game and toys related to the brand. It'll also be hosting multiplayer and esports tournaments for games including FC24, NBA 2k25 and Madden NFL 24. An upcoming free multiplayer weekend will happen Sept. 21-22.