Black PS5 faceplates open for pre-order from company daring Sony to sue it

Order your black PS5 faceplates and pray that Sony doesn't shut down the operations before they ship

Black PS5 faceplates
(Image credit: dbrand)

Canadian PS5 faceplate maker dbrand has finally put its sought-after black PS5 faceplates up for sale, and it's still defying Sony to make it stop, shrugging off the spectre of a lawsuit with a generous helping of snark.

The company is selling matte black PS5 faceplates for both the PS5 disc and digital editions, although it's just the standard edition PS5 faceplates that are available to order right now. Not wanting to neglect the glossy black body sandwiched in-between, dbrand is also selling skins for the visible part of the console between the plates, so you can have a true matte black finish for your PS5.    

The matte black PS5 faceplates will set you back $49 (approx £36/ AU$64) while the middle skin, which you can pick up in eight different colors/ designs, costs $11.95 (£9 / AU$16). You can also get the two bundled together so that's a total of $60.95 before shipping, which is around £44 / AU$79. The prices seem to have been temporarily slashed so you might want to get in there while they're discounted.  

Dbrand isn't the first company to wade into the waters of PS5 faceplates;  Customize My Plates (previously PlateStation5.com) had PS5 faceplates in a range of colors ready to go, but shut down the operation when Sony threatened legal action, and switched to PS5 skins instead. 

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Dbrand initially opened up pre-orders for PS5 skins, but decided its customers were incapable of properly applying its product, taking to reddit to explain how fiddly the application process is:

"We’ve seen you a**holes try to apply the corner of a smartphone skin. Trust us when we say you can’t handle an application that’s 9x the size. The truth here is that we have no interest in selling a product that will generate a dozen customer complaints for every purchase."

Dbrand seems to be fairly confident that it can skirt any legal issues Sony might throw at it, and has gone as far as emblazoning the message "Go ahead, sue us" on the site, which definitely doesn't seem like it's overcompensating. The PS5 faceplates also have a textured side, similar to the DualSense controller, that's accompanied by copy that highlights how "totally legal" that is:

"When you look at this microscopic texture inside the Darkplates, what do you see? If your answer is 'a familiar-but-legally-distinct apocalyptic spin on the classic PlayStation button shapes,' you might be one of our lawyers." 

If you'd like to place an order, you can head over to dbrand's website; the earliest shipping date for the black PS5 faceplates is May, with a fifth wave to follow after that. PS5 Digital Edition faceplates are "coming soon" so you'll have to check in to see when they become available. 

Source: via TechRadar

Shabana Arif

Shabana worked at T3.com as News Editor covering tech and gaming, and has been writing about video games for almost a decade (and playing them since forever). She's had bylines at major gaming sites during her freelance career before settling down here at T3, and has podcasts, streaming, and video content under her belt to boot. Outside of work, she also plays video games and should really think about expanding her hobbies. If you have any tech or gaming tips, shoot over an email or DM her on social media.