YouTube channel Macho Nacho Productions appears to have acquired a PlayStation 5 dev kit and has made a video taking a close look at the console. PlayStation fans may recall the year prior to the PlayStation 5's release being rife with leaks claiming to have seen a PS5 dev kid in the wild. It may be less exciting now that the PS5 has been available for nearly two years, but it's still interesting to get to take a closer look at the device.
The shape of the PS5 dev kit will be immediately recognizable to those who followed the console's development ahead of its launch. It's large and has a big "V" shape cut into its upper half. The glossy black front of the system features a variety of USB slots and blinking lights for various settings. The rest of the console is layered in silver plastic with open slots for ventilation. But the shell of the PS5 dev kit is already familiar. It's what's inside and what it runs that's most exciting.
Tito of Macho Nacho Productions states up front that the PS5 dev kit has not been activated. PS5 dev kits are for developers, after all, and a YouTube channel is not supposed to have one. After turning on the PS5, Tito goes over the details presented on the dev kit's front panel and then powers the SoC (system-on-chip) up. The dev console starts up like a normal PS5, but with a unique developer UI only somewhat similar to the standard PS5 UI. It's at this point Tito says not much more can be done without Sony's activation of the dev kit.
From here, Tito does a full tour of the dev kit's menus and settings, including showing the various ways it can be activated so it'd work. The video closes out on a big "surprise," with Tito revealing what's inside a panel at the bottom of the console. It's, unsurprisingly, an NVMe port for an M.2 SSD. There's no SSD currently installed, but it would allow developers to expand the dev kit's already impressive 2.2 TB storage.
Altogether, this initial video doesn't reveal many of the PS5 dev kit's secrets. Further videos are hinted at in which Tito will perform a teardown on the dev kit. He obviously won't be activating the dev kit with Sony, since he's not a developer, so it's unlikely anything further will be done with the platform otherwise.
It's unclear how the PS5 dev kit managed to get into a YouTuber's hands, and Tito is certainly not offering up any answers. It's also unclear if Sony will be comfortable with Tito posting videos about the PS5 dev kit online. It may not be online long, but it's an interesting video for what it is.