An eBay listing for two PS5 dev kits complete with black DualSense controllers has been swiftly removed, presumably after Sony got wind of what was going on.
There are a few indicators that a company is preparing for the launch of a new console. One of the most telling is the reveal that developers of games for that new console have received dev kits. Very early versions of the console that serve no other purpose than to test a game so a studio can actually develop games for the new system.
In 2019, an image of a PS5 dev kit effectively started the next-gen hype train. A year later, it and Xbox's new consoles would finally arrive, although both companies held off on revealing concrete details for as long as they could. Now one of those dev kits and a test kit have appeared on eBay, only to be swiftly removed after bids on them surpassed $3000.
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The black console, a DFI-D1000AA dev kit, looks a lot like the leaked image and appears to be the real deal. It even comes with a couple of black DualSense controllers. The Twitter post below shows that the listing reached a bid of €2,850, almost $3375 before it was pulled from sale by the site.
What remains unclear at this point in time is why the kits were removed from sale. While Sony is yet to officially comment, it may well be a case of the company getting in contact and requesting they not be sold. While the test consoles may well have been purchased from PlayStation legitimately, it's unlikely any sort of deal struck between the two parties would have neglected to mention the want for them not to be sold, especially nine months on from the launch of the PS5.
The two kits being sold on eBay are actually pretty different. One is a dev kit that will have been used to aid the development of a game, while the other is a test kit. A test kit is much closer to the final product, as you can see in the images. A dev kit, on the other hand, will probably be pretty useless at this stage. It's unlikely it will be able to play regular retail games and will act as little more than an ornament if bought.
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