TECH NEWS – A PlayStation 5 owner has filed a class-action lawsuit accusing Sony of hiding a flaw in the PS5 that causes the system to crash during gameplay.

PlayStation’s PS5 console has been making solid sales despite being launched during a global chip shortage and pandemic. However, the next-generation console hardware is facing controversy as a gamer claims Sony is hiding a bug in the system.

PlayStation 5 has received several updates to the system software in the two years since its release, with some issues being addressed.

An update recently added settings for the system’s automatic low latency mode to reduce lag.

In a class action lawsuit, plaintiff Christina Trejo accuses Sony of failing to disclose a bug that allegedly causes the system to crash during gameplay, leading to a loss of gameplay. According to the lawsuit, Sony is not only aware of the problem but has knowingly sold millions of PS5s with the same problem. As a result, the plaintiff’s complaint seeks to have Sony pay damages as punitive damages for the alleged inaction.

If the claim has merit, it means that a large number of PS5 owners may be suffering from this problem and that Sony has failed to take any action to address the problem. However, reports of the problem appear to be few and far between, and although the PS5 suffered from stability issues around launch, updates to the system software have addressed many of the bugs. A few specific games would also cause problems, but such games would generally receive patches.

That a flaw would persist through so many updates to fix other problems would be highly unlikely, but it is also possible that a recent update introduced the flaw.

Sony is no stranger to class-action lawsuits over faulty hardware; last year, it was a stick-shifting flaw in the DualSense controllers, and gamers have also reported that adaptive triggers broke quickly and there were problems with the console’s sleep mode. However, crashing during gameplay is a severe indictment of a system that was designed specifically for gaming. The credibility of the lawsuit is questionable, but if Sony has indeed concealed problems with the system, taking it to court is one way to increase pressure to fix the issues.

Hardware problems aside, the PS5 is certainly performing well, with Sony predicting that PS5 sales will overtake PS4 sales by 2024.

Source: Top Class Action