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THE INSIDE STORY: PS5 & DualSense Mounts
A new console generation is always an exciting time. It brings a new toy to play with, new games to experience, and it means HIDEit gets to work on making mounts to help you protect them!
WHY DID WE MAKEit?
Because we knew YOU wanted it! We were already aware of the huge demand for the next gen consoles, and with that came demand from our gaming community for the next HIDEit mount. We’ve built up trust and expectations over the last decade, we knew we couldn’t let you down. We received so many questions about it that we made a video early last year to help set expectations.
HOW DID WE MAKEit?
The short of it: we iterated and iterated. The long of it: over months of hard work, dedication, teamwork, and testing.
“As soon as the first images were out there [from Sony], we were trying to wrap our brains around ‘What could we do to make a mount out of this?’ - Chuck Shirley, Co-Founder and COO of HIDEit Mounts
Six months before launch, the images were still all we could work off. We didn’t have early access to the console, we had to wait to get our hands on the console just like everyone else. This brought up numerous challenges.
The first being the shape of the console. We were perplexed by the curved shape of the PlayStation 5 since most consoles are rectangular. Then there was the other major surprise: two consoles, an all-new Digital Edition alongside the standard model. Unlike the Xbox Series X and S, which are two different and distinct shapes, these two PlayStation consoles featured similar characteristics but enough differences to force another challenge to overcome - do we design one universal mount or two different mounts?
No design was off the table. We looked into a shelf design, a larger base, and even a wider backplate. We considered all different shapes and sizes, even a few that looked like… a certain body part. Removing the side white panels was even considered. All in all nearly 20 designs were considered!
Three HIDEit Mounts PlayStation 5 Mount Prototypes
“We always take into account general aesthetics,” Relina Shirley, Co-Founder and CEO of HIDEit Mounts said.
Our design team had to balance the perfect shape and look of the mount while making sure it was strong enough to hold the weight of the console. This also meant we had to think about the overall size of the mount.
“Our name is HIDEit, you might not hide the product, but we want to make sure you don’t see the mount.” - Relina Shirley.
After going through several iterations, we knew they wouldn’t work because of the weight and size of the console. It was back to the drawing board. This time, looking back and gaining inspiration from one of our older mounts: the PlayStation 4.
Having some sort of consistency with the PS4 Mount became an important piece of the puzzle in the final design of the PlayStation 5 Mount. We didn’t think it would work at first; the two consoles are vastly different designs.
“In the 20 iterations, we tried to have completely different designs. We tried to think outside of the box. Ultimately, we ended up with something more similar to our PS4 and PS4 Slim Mounts, which didn’t seem like it would work in the beginning.” - Relina Shirley
Should we have started there? Sure, but we had to cover all ground and make sure we didn’t miss anything. Other companies just assume things, HIDEit doesn’t.
An added bonus of designing it similar to the PS4 Mount? A similar hole pattern. This is a HUGE bonus for our PlayStation customers who are upgrading and want to swap out the consoles - no new holes in the wall!
As launch day crept closer, we began to feel the pressure. It was essential to get to market as soon as possible, but we didn't want cut corners and break the trust we’ve spent over a decade building with the gaming community.
Once we had the consoles in hand, we were excited to try our prototypes, finalize the design, and get the mount into gamers' hands. There was just one problem: “The first couple prototypes didn’t fit because the information was limited.” - Chuck Shirley
So we made a few more changes. The hook at the top of the mount was important for a variety of reasons, but the biggest was getting the console to stay as flush to the wall as possible. Sony already included an M3 screw in their design for their stand, a feature HIDEit used all the way back with the PS4 Pro and Slim models. But our initial prototypes didn’t fit, the console couldn’t slide easily in and out of it.
The Hook Keeps the PlayStation 5 Flush to the Wall
The M3 Screw Helps Keep the PlayStation 5 Secure
We made the difficult decision to delay the PlayStation 5 Mount, splitting the launch of the next generation console mounts.
In the end, we nailed the final design. How do we know we NAILEDit? Knockoffs. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but in the cases we’ve seen, they’ve been pretty poor. In fact, one company went as far as lifting our design, copy, images, and even photocopied our instruction card with our brand name and URLs still on the card! The best part? The mount didn’t even fit the console! All that for a measly $10 in savings. We’re often imitated but never replicated.
That’s the HIDEit difference. We put the time and effort into making sure our mounts work best and fit your products because we know how important they are to you. We meticulously design each of our mounts, putting hours into their designs, and even more into testing. We care about the little details. No 3D printed materials, strings, or plastic because we know how important your consoles are to you.
And all of this hard work has paid off. The HIDEit PlayStation 5 Mount is one of the most successful launches we’ve had in company history -- we had THOUSANDS of pre-orders. You trusted us enough to pre-order the mount sight unseen! And many of you made a purchase without having the console! Since launch, we’ve had dozens of 5-star reviews and hundreds of you sending us images of your setup with your new PS5.
In response to this, Chuck said, “We love our customers, plain and simple, we love our customers. We have a business because of our customers rely on us to take the extra time to make sure that if we’re going to launch a product that it does fit, that it does work.”
MAKING (DUAL)SENSE
But we’re HIDEit Mounts, so we don’t stop. It only took seconds after the PS5 Mount launch before customers started to ask, “What about the DualSense Charging Station?” So we went right back to work.
It’s repetitive at this point, but we tested and iterated to ensure the charging station could be safely mounted and secure. While we didn’t get to 20 iterations, we did work on seven unique designs. We had to make sure the design was functional and minimal so it could seamlessly be added to gaming setups.
As a bonus, we provided some extra space near the back to help with cable management! We finished the mount with a semi-gloss to match the dock. These additional features have helped make the DualSense Charging Station Mount one of our most unique mounts to date!
Rest assured, any time a new console launches, HIDEit will be there!
- Tags: Gaming HIDEit News
