Sony Just Made the PS5 See-Through, and Our Inner Teenagers Are Not Coping

Remember when you could stare straight into your gadgets and see the guts? Sony clearly does. The company has just unveiled the Prism Collection, a range of see-through DualSense controllers and matching PS5 console covers that drags the late-nineties transparent-tech craze into 2027, and UK pre-orders opened this morning.

We have been waiting for this, whether we admitted it or not. Clear plastic was peak cool back when we hid translucent handhelds under school desks. Now PlayStation has brought it back in three bold colours. Here is everything you need to know before you part with your money.

What the Prism Collection actually is

The Prism Collection is Sony’s latest cosmetic refresh for the PS5, and it is a straightforward idea executed with some confidence. There are two products: a transparent DualSense wireless controller and a set of transparent console covers for the PS5 Slim. Each comes in the same three shades, so you can match your pad to your console if you are the sort of person who colour-coordinates a shelf. We are, so we will.

According to Sony’s own PlayStation Blog announcement, the idea came from the design teams’ own fondness for transparency. The goal is to give players a closer look at the craftsmanship hiding inside a DualSense and a PS5, rather than keeping it all tucked behind opaque white plastic.

Three colours, one big nostalgia hit

The three colourways are Flare Orange, Emerald Green and Graphite Gray. Every one of them has a clear, high-gloss finish that wraps around the back of the controller, so the internal hardware becomes part of the look rather than something to hide.

• Flare Orange: the loud one. It is the shade that most obviously says early 2000s, and the one we expect to vanish from shelves first.
• Emerald Green: the moody pick. Deep, jewel-toned and a little bit sci-fi, it is the colour we would put on a dark gaming setup.
• Graphite Gray: the grown-up option. It is the most restrained of the three, and the safest if you want to see inside the controller without shouting about it.

We should be honest here: we have not held a Prism DualSense yet, so we are judging from the images Sony has released. Glossy transparent plastic tends to attract fingerprints, so we will be keen to see how they wear. The pictures, though, look great.

If you are tempted by a bold look but cannot wait until February, our own look at the GTA 6 DualSense pre-orders shows how quickly special-edition pads become the talk of the console world.

The console covers are the real surprise

Controllers are easy to get excited about, but the console covers are the clever part. They are designed for the PS5 Slim and come in the same three transparent shades, which means you can change the whole personality of your console without buying new hardware. Swap the side panels, and the white slab on your TV stand suddenly looks like something out of a retro-futurist catalogue.

There is a catch, and it is a slightly baffling one. There is no cover for the PS5 Pro. If you splashed out on the more powerful console, you can buy the controller but not the matching shell, which feels like an odd omission for a collection built around showing off hardware. If you are a Pro owner, that will sting.

The covers are also exclusive. In the UK, Sony will sell them only through its own PlayStation Direct store, with limited quantities reaching select retailers in other regions. That tells us two things. First, Sony expects demand to be healthy. Second, anyone who wants a full matching set should not dawdle.

Price and availability in the UK

Pre-orders opened in the UK at 10am today, 10 November, and the collection will ship from 4 February 2027. Sony notes that exact launch dates and availability may vary by country, so treat that as the starting gun rather than a promise of next-day delivery. These are the recommended retail prices:

• Prism Collection DualSense wireless controller: £74.99 in each of the three colours
• Prism Collection PS5 console covers: £64.99 for a set, also in all three colours

For context, a standard black DualSense carries a recommended price of £64.99, so you are paying roughly £10 extra for the see-through treatment. That is a fair premium for a limited design, if not exactly a bargain. A controller and a matching cover set comes to £139.98, which is real money for what is essentially a cosmetic upgrade.

You can pre-order directly from PlayStation’s online store, where both the controllers and the covers are available. The controllers will also be sold through other retailers, and Currys has been taking pre-orders for them this morning. We could not confirm a live Amazon UK listing at the time of writing, so we have not linked one, and we will update this piece if that changes.

Who it is for

The obvious audience is anyone old enough to remember the first transparent gadget craze. If you spent your pocket money on a clear handheld or a see-through console shell, Prism is aimed squarely at you, and you probably already have a colour in mind. For this crowd, the nostalgia is the product, and the price will feel secondary.

It is also an easy win for collectors and setup obsessives. Anyone who treats their games room like a gallery will find three new shades that photograph beautifully. A transparent pad looks wonderful lit from behind, and we suspect a lot of these will end up on social media before they ever see a boss fight.

Then there is the gift angle, which is hard to ignore with Christmas on the horizon. Pre-orders will not arrive in time for the big day, but a confirmation tucked into a card is a lovely idea. If you are still building your list, our round-up of 20 gaming gifts for consoles, PCs and phones is packed with options that will arrive on time.

Who should skip it? Anyone who just wants the best-performing controller for the least money. Prism is a style purchase through and through. It does not promise new features, and we would not expect it to change how a DualSense feels in the hand. If you are after a different kind of upgrade, our guide to the 12 best PC controllers we would actually buy is worth a read.

Why it matters

On the surface, this is a colourful accessory range. Look a little closer and it says something about where console design is heading. For years, the sleek, opaque, minimalist box has been the default. Gamers have been quietly asking for something with more personality, and the success of limited edition pads has proved there is an appetite for it.

Prism also shows Sony is comfortable leaning into nostalgia rather than chasing the next big thing. That is smart. The people who grew up with transparent tech are now adults with disposable income and strong opinions about their living rooms. A product that taps into that memory, without needing a single new feature, is a very efficient way to sell hardware.

There is a timing point too. With the console wars heating up ahead of a huge year in gaming, anything that keeps the PS5 feeling fresh is valuable. If you are weighing up where to put your money, our comparison of GTA 6 on PS5 or Xbox shows how much a console’s personality can sway a decision. A see-through shell will not decide the argument, but it certainly adds to PlayStation’s side of the ledger.

The TechSpy take

We are suckers for this. There, we said it. The Prism Collection does one thing, and it does it with real charm: it lets us see inside the technology we love, and it wraps that in a colour palette that feels lifted from a happier, glossier era. It is not a necessity, and it will not make you a better player, but few of the best gadget purchases ever are.

Our wish list is simple. We would buy the Emerald Green controller without hesitation, and we would happily pair it with a matching cover on a PS5 Slim. The missing PS5 Pro cover is a genuine miss, and we hope Sony fixes it in a future drop. The February release date feels a long way off, and the fingerprint question is one we will answer once we get hands-on. We will report back as soon as we have one to hand.

Our advice is to decide which colour you want, set a reminder, and pre-order from a retailer you trust. If you are on the fence, remember that the controllers are widely stocked while the covers are not, so the covers are the ones to prioritise if you want the full look. Nostalgia has rarely looked this good, and at £74.99 for a controller, we think plenty of you will take the plunge. We certainly will.