PS5 owners: could your next-gen console be about to die at any second?

Probably not, but crashes, corruptions, and system breaking bugs are leaving some PS5 buyers feeling ‘bummed out’

Sony PlayStation 5 PS5
(Image credit: Sony)

The PS5 is finally here, joining the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S in ushering a new generation of consoles. However, all is not well in the world of PlayStation, as numerous users are reporting varying issues with their new console. Is PS5 death a likely outcome for you? No. However, if you’re experiencing PS5 difficulties, you’ll be glad you kept your receipt.

Unfortunately, what faults there are with the new PlayStation 5 do not appear to be linked to one particular game. To make matters worse, at the time of writing, the only known fix for one of these faults is to factory reset the PS5 entirely. 

My PS5 experience so far. Rather bummed out to be honest. Idk if I got a faulty system or what but this lag has been throughout the entire game. Involving 4 crashes with one system shut down so far. from r/playstation
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One of the more widely reported issues currently plaguing PS5 players are sudden and unexplained performance drops during gameplay, with some users reporting that their consoles are freezing or shutting down altogether. This problem appears to be with the PS5 console itself and is appearing across multiple titles, including the system's bundled game, Astro's Playroom.

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While there's been no official word from Sony on how to resolve these issues, users have taken to Sony's official PlayStation support account on Twitter, where Sony has been offering support via direct messages. We suggest anyone else experiencing similar issues do the same.

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The PS5's problems, unfortunately, don't stop there. As reported by Push Square, users are reporting that their PS5 console has required them to undergo a database rebuild following apparent corruption. Push Square reports that its own staff experienced the issue, after attempting to play a PS4 game from external storage. The console suddenly shut down and, upon reboot, required a database rebuild.

While one Reddit user has been able to fix their issues via a simple restart, after having undergone three rebuilds over the course of 45 minutes, other users are reporting more prevalent issues relating to database corruption.

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Jeff Gerstmann, co-founder and editor of Giant Bomb, has identified that if the PS5 is put into rest mode, while Spider-Man Remastered is running, then the entire system will crash. When the PS5 is then booted up again, the user must undergo a rebuild of their database.

As with the other issues mentioned in this article, there’s no word on an official fix yet. However, Jeff Stevenson, community director at Insomniac Games (developers of Spider-Man Remastered), has said that this issue is being looked into.

Despite all of this, the PS5 is not alone in having launch woes as reports are emerging surrounding the Xbox Series X and its own unique set of issues.

Source: Push Square