PlayStation 5 Lawsuit Accuses Sony Of Hiding A Defect That Causes Games To Crash
Sony is facing a class-action lawsuit accusing the company of concealing an alleged defect in its PlayStation 5 console that causes it to "suddenly crash and power down" when playing video games. As an aside, the lawsuit also claims that supply issues have added to the frustration, noting that it's extremely difficult to procure a PS5, only to then find out that it supposedly has a defect of some sort.
"Consumers, after finally purchasing a seemingly unobtainable PS5 console, are met with an ironic truth that the PS5 they purchased from Sony, where 'Play Has No Limits', contains a console defect which severely limits their expected use of the system," the lawsuit alleges.
What's odd about the class-action lawsuit is the vague description of the alleged issue. We've pored over the claim and found no mention of what the supposed defect actually is, only that it's claimed to exist in the "design of the PS5."
"A common and
significant issue among PS5 users is that the PS5 will crash or power down while they are playing
video games. On information and belief, the console defect is more prominent, but is not limited
to, when users play the new generation PS5 games. This aspect of the defect is crucial as playing
PS5 games is the primary purpose for which consumers purchase the PS5 in the first place," the lawsuit states.
As a result, the lawsuit further claims that PS5 owners "oftentimes" resort to downgrading PS5 optimized titles to PS4 versions to avoid risking further damage to their console and losing game progress.
While the lawsuit refrains from pointing out what the alleged defect might actually be, such as a cooling issue or a problem with the GPU, it says Sony is aware of the problem based on warranty claims and user complaints on the web. It provides a few quotes from user reviews on Amazon, one of which says their PS5 was "crashing left and right with every disc game."
The lawsuit also cites a few articles referencing how users can prevent their PS5 from shutting down unexpectedly. These are not necessarily the result of a shutdown, however. One of the cited articles discusses dust built-up being a potential culprit for overheating issues that lead to system shutdowns, and discusses how to clean the PS5.
From our vantage point, the class-action suit (PDF) appears rather weak. Sony has sold over 20 million PS5 consoles to date and if there was a design defect that was causing games to crash, it seems we would have heard more about it.
