The design of the PS5 is controversial. Many, myself included, can't stand the look, from its asymmetrical disc bulge to its sterile black and white color scheme. But if Sony's new marketing materials are to be believed, we may not be stuck with the white casing forever. A tiger-eyed employee spotted a handsome red and black variant of the PS5 in Sony's brochure.

The information came from a ResetEra thread courtesy of gaming news site PushSquare, where a user called BarrBarr obtained a marketing brochure from Sony at his workplace and shared it with the ResetEra community for input . The brochure shows an array of Sony gear, including cameras, earbuds, Xperia phones, PS5, and more. There are also black and red controllers.

There are two schools of thought on this photo, neither of which is particularly outlandish: the first is an Occam's razor approach: since there is a photo of a black and red PS5, a black and red PS5 will be released sooner or later; the PS5 will have a special edition in a different color; the PS5 will be available in a different color; and the PS5 will be available in a different color. And red and black are always popular shades for "gamer" gear. The only real question is whether a black and red PS5 will appear this year, but the brochure says "probably."

Another possibility - more likely, if you ask the author - is that the appearance of this gaming machine is simply to match the black and red color scheme of the brochure itself. Turning a black-and-white machine into a red-and-black machine would be a simple matter of using photo editing software, and a black/white/blue PS5 would clash badly with the red background. Still, the PS5 is one of Sony's most important gadgets to be released this year, and it would be worse not to include it in the picture.

The brochure itself, unfortunately, gives no other hints and seems to be standard retailer information: the PS5 will be in stores later this year, which we already knew.

Sony itself has yet to comment on the matter, but to be fair, there is still much we don't know about the PS5. Pricing and release date are still up in the air, so it's perhaps unsurprising that Sony isn't willing to delve into another color scheme just yet. My gut feeling is that if we really want a black and red PS5, we'll have to wait another year or so, because the PS5 will be available in a variety of colors, including black and red.