RIP PS5
The next-gen console release has been an ever-expanding parade of disappointment and frustration. First, reports spread of Xbox Series X consoles turning into smoke stacks, which Xbox confirmed was just the result of people blowing vape smoke into their consoles and not anything actually catching fire. After that, real reports of faulty disc drives hit the internet. Now it's the PlayStation 5's turn to disappoint audiences, this time with a fatal glitch that could turn your console into a $500 avant-garde door stopper.
While many critics and independent reviewers have gotten their hands on the PS5, one reviewer in particular discovered a hard drive issue that can brick your console. Famed comedic internet personality Jeremy Penter, a.k.a. ACG (short for Angry Centaur Gaming), reported that his console was "100% dead." At first, his console bumped into the same storage rebuild issues that other early review copies encountered, but his PS5 refused to improve. Eventually, the storage problem graduated into full-on errors, complete with network and boot issues. ACG was able to contact Sony to help him work through the issue, but it was too little, too late. The only thing the Sony representative could do was bear witness to the console's last breath.
The story isn't all funeral proceedings, though. ACG stated that Sony diligently worked with him to send out a replacement, and second time was the charm. The substitute PS5 ran without any problems for hours on end, which was just the shot in the arm ACG needed to post his console review on time.
While ACG's PS5 saga has a happy ending, there's still the question of why his console self-destructed in front of his eyes. At first the issue seemed no different from what other reviewers witnessed — the console's storage would corrupt itself when waking up — but then it just snowballed into an early grave. Since sites such as The Gamer and Gizmodo, as well as reviewers like YongYea, have yet to encounter anything as ghastly as ACG's brush with console mortality, the issue might have laid solely within his first review system. ACG could have just received a lemon of a PS5 that blew up in his face, and since his second console has yet to give up the ghost, that might be exactly what happened.
If you pre-ordered a PlayStation 5 or plan on purchasing one, you will most likely be fine. Since the console is a mass-produced product, however, odds are a few unlucky buyers could take home a $500 time bomb. There's a possibility that ACG was merely the first.