Following on from my Fake Holograms post back in December, and coupled with me being terminally on eBay, I spotted a new fake hologram last week.

I was super interested in this one because, unlike the dozens of fakes I’ve seen proliferate online, this one copies the older design - Hologram A, as I call it. In that first post I said the diagonal design hadn’t been replicated yet. Well, now it has.

A genuine Hologram A on the front of a PAL PS1 case, showing the PlayStation logo in its brand colours over diagonal Official Licensed Product text.

The older version was only used for a year or so before Sony switched to the second design, and one of its noticeable features is that the “Official Licensed Product” text in the background runs diagonally. Not only that, it isn’t particularly clear either - the text has a real blurry quality that Hologram B doesn’t have.

The fake in the eBay listing looked far too clear, so I was excited to get my hands on one so I could tear it to shreds.

Hilariously, the eBay listing has the hologram stuck on a copy of Crash Bandicoot - the original release never had a hologram - and in the photo it partly covers the Naughty Dog logo. Sigh. What do you expect, I guess?

First Impressions

It arrived today and I was very excited to see it, and boy is this reproduction a hot mess. There is so much wrong with this sticker.

The fake hologram (top) above a genuine Hologram A (bottom) on the same PS1 case.

The Background Text

As I said, the listing photos suggested the diagonal background text was really clear, which is not the case with the original.

On real versions, the background text is pushed further back into the hologram, which gives it a more three-dimensional effect. The catch is that this makes that layer blurrier - the depth illusion relies on the layer being rebuilt across a spread of viewing angles, so under normal light it softens. Interestingly, with a sharp point of light you can make this layer appear much sharper.

The fake hologram doesn’t even attempt this effect. The text is sharp, and it sits visually on the same layer as the rest of the content.

A genuine Hologram A (left) and the fake (right) under flat light. The real background text is faint and soft, the fake text is crisp.

Counting the Lines

Also, like the first batch I bought, the number of lines is wrong and positioning give it away. Hologram A has 13 visible lines of text vertically, and while the fake one also has this number, the 13th is only partially visible where as the official one cleanly shows all lines at some point in the diagonal.

The line spacing is completely off too. There does seem to be a pattern where two lines sit close together with a gap after every second line, but that gap doesn’t follow a consistent pattern from row to row.

And finally, the background text gets thicker towards the top of the sticker and really thin towards the bottom. Very strange. It does make me think they were using an optical contact copying technique of some kind.

Close-up of a genuine Hologram A, with soft diagonal background text sitting behind the logo.
Close-up of the fake hologram, with sharp background text that thickens towards the top and both logos visible at once.

The Logos

Moving on to the logos, we see all the same issues as the previous batch, plus some new ones.

The main issue is, again, that there aren’t two distinct logos. This hologram has a single layer, and you cannot separate the PlayStation logo from the Sony Computer Entertainment one at any angle.

A genuine Hologram A (left) showing the Sony Computer Entertainment logo on its own, next to the fake (right) showing both logos merged.

Additionally, the PlayStation logo on the fake doesn’t reproduce the brand colours. At a certain angle, the real hologram reflects the correct PlayStation logo colours, and that’s something the counterfeit simply can’t do.

A genuine Hologram A at an angle where the PlayStation logo shows its brand colours.
The fake hologram next to a genuine one at an angle, with the fake logo showing only a reddish rainbow sheen.

The background of the SCE diamond also doesn’t line up with its outline on the right-hand side - you can see it in the close-up of the fake above. There’s also a lot less of the feathering effect seen on the other fakes.

Quick Reference: How to Spot This Fake

  • Sharp background text - the diagonal text is crisp and sits on the same layer as the logos, rather than soft and set back
  • 10 lines instead of 11 - with uneven spacing that doesn’t repeat consistently
  • Uneven text weight - the background text gets thicker towards the top and thinner towards the bottom
  • Merged logos - the SCE logo can’t be isolated from the PlayStation logo at any angle
  • No brand colours - the PlayStation logo never shows its proper colours
  • Misaligned SCE diamond - the fill doesn’t line up with the outline on the right

Personally, I don’t see the point in these, but I won’t bore you all with my opinion any further. Otherwise, I hope you find this interesting and helpful!

If you spot any other fake holograms out in the wild, I’d love to hear about them.