The PS5's two-tone design has proven to be controversial among gamers, but a changeable faceplate could be the solution to making the next-generation console a little more pleasing to the eye. At least, that's what we thought.

However, Sony has taken legal action against the company selling custom faceplates for the PS5, forcing that third-party company to cancel pre-orders for the faceplates.

The company in question is PlateStation5. However, legal action from Sony, claiming that it was infringing on the intellectual property of a Japanese electronics company, forced PlateSation5 to rebrand itself as CustomizeMyPlates and cancel orders for custom PS5 faceplates.

Sony had previously stated that the PS5 would be customizable, but had not officially revealed that the faceplates would be interchangeable; the official teardown of the PS5 revealed that the system's plates could snap off immediately, but Sony did not mention custom plates from first or third parties.

Some third-party companies often overstep their bounds with custom accessories for game consoles that may not have been approved by the console manufacturers themselves. However, this situation appears to be a mistake by CustomizeMyPlates rather than an attempt to provoke Sony.

"Before launching, we did our due diligence and were of the opinion that since Sony only had a patent pending on the faceplate, there would be no problem," CustomizeMyPlates said in an e-mail to VGC.

"However, just one day after our website went live, Sony's lawyers asked us to change our name (PlateStation5 at the time) citing trademark infringement. We thought the change would make everyone happy, and honestly hoped so, since we were already developing the product. But Sony's lawyers told us that Sony's intellectual property extended to the faceplate and that if we continued to sell and distribute it in any country, we would face court action"

.

CustomizeMyPlates stated that they had to cancel and refund pre-orders for faceplates worldwide because of this sudden revelation.

What will happen to customization on November 12, when the PS5 is released? We don't know that. I'm sure you can customize the console with stickers and sprays, but that's hardly an elegant solution.

Rather, Sony will probably release its own official custom faceplates, perhaps made with partners. And later on, third-party companies may be able to get in on the action. Time will tell on this.