The PlayStation 5, despite being launched during a global chip shortage and pandemic, is proving to be a hit with high sales. However, the next generation of console hardware faces controversy as a player claims Sony is hiding a defect in the system.

Approaching two years since launch, the PlayStation 5 has received many updates to the system software to fix a wide range of issues. Most recently, an update added settings to configure the system's auto low latency mode for lag reduction.

In a class-action lawsuit filing, plaintiff Christina Trejo accuses Sony of avoiding disclosing a defect that supposedly causes the system to shut down during gameplay, resulting in lost progress. The suit alleges that Sony is not only aware of the problem but also has knowingly sold millions of PS5s with the same issue. As a result, the plaintiff's lawsuit filing aims to have Sony pay damages as punishment for the alleged inaction.

If the suit is founded in truth, it means a large portion of PS5 owners must suffer from this issue and Sony has not acted to solve it in any way. However, reports on the issue seem scarce, and while the PS5 suffered from stability issues around launch, a lot of problems were fixed with updates to the system software. Some specific games would also cause issues, but generally, such games also receive patches. For an issue to persist across so many updates that have fixed other problems would be exceedingly unlikely, but it is also possible that a more recent update introduced a problem.

Sony is no stranger to class-action lawsuits for defective hardware; last year, a stick drift defect in DualSense controllers was the target, and players also reported the adaptive triggers breaking easily and problems with the console's rest mode. Crashing during gameplay, however, is a severe accusation for a system designed expressly around gaming. The plausibility of the lawsuit is questionable, but if Sony really has concealed issues with the system, then bringing it to court is one way to increase the pressure to resolve the issues.

Regardless of hardware issues, the PS5 is certainly doing well for itself, with Sony predicting that PS5 sales will overtake PS4 sales by 2024. For now, the ongoing chip shortage continues to pose a problem for meeting demand in hardware, so many gamers will have to continue with last generation's PS4 for a while longer.



Posted: Jul 20, 2022 6:54 pm
Related Forum: PlayStation Forum

Source: https://gamerant.com/class-action-lawsuit-filed-against-sony-ps5-defect/