PS5 consoles could break from hidden flaw claim fans playing latest game

The PS5’s overheating issue seems to be getting worse, although the most recent problems may be the fault of one specific game.

Death Stranding 2 launched last week for the PlayStation 5 and while Kojima Productions has yet to share sales figure, the prestige of director Hideo Kojima and the success of the first game makes it one of the biggest new games of the summer.

At the same time, word is spreading that the game is causing some PlayStation 5 consoles to overheat, prompting demands for a patch to fix the issue.

However, some suspect that the PlayStation 5 itself is at fault, as a problem that’s been known about for years is believed to be getting worse.

For context, the claims of Death Stranding 2 overheating consoles started with this Reddit thread. A Redditor named mudman2018 claims they’re running the game on a base PlayStation 5 and have received overheat warnings when they have the map open.

‘It’s strange because everything else runs smoothly, even during long gameplay sessions. But the moment I bring up the map and start planning a route, the fan suddenly goes crazy and I get an overheating warning,’ they say.

Plenty of other players report the same thing happening to them when using the map. They are also insistent that the issue lies with the game and not their console, with fans like iamthepower and Connorpreferspc saying they keep their console clean and in a well-ventilated area.

What’s more, some report that this is happening on the Slim model too, and even a couple of owners of a PS5 Pro say their console gets hotter than usual.

That said, it’s unclear how widespread the issue is. The Reddit thread only has 62 votes, and we can confirm that we never experienced overheating during our play sessions. We played it for over 50 hours (much of that during the intense heatwave of last weekend) and you have to use the map a lot, so if the problem was that common we should’ve seen some sign of it.

Unless Kojima Productions acknowledges the issue and offers an explanation and/or fix, it’s entirely possible the fault lies somewhere else.

Apart from the current heatwave in Europe, it could also have to do with a known design flaw in the PlayStation 5. A couple of years ago, multiple tech experts reported on instances of the liquid metal used for cooling dripping onto other components when the console is stood vertically (the console we were playing on was horizontal).

This was a fairly uncommon issue at the time but just last week, Matthew Cassells, founder of Alderon Games, claimed it’s become more prevalent, while speaking during an appearance on the Moore’s Law Is Dead podcast.

According to Cassells, more and more PlayStation 5 owners, including his fellow team members, have reported instances of overheating when playing Alderon Games’ Path Of Titans, a dinosaur themed MMO survival game.

Cassells said he got in contact with Sony and learned that because of the liquid metal issues, more intensive games have a higher chance of causing the PlayStation 5 to overheat and shut down.

He added that roughly 3% of Path Of Titans’ player-base has been affected by the issue, which reinforces that it isn’t widespread, but Cassells expressed fears that a lot of PlayStation 5 consoles could still end up dying within the next couple of years.

Sony has apparently tried to mitigate the issue with the Slim and Pro models, and it’s been advised that everyone rest PlayStation 5s horizontally or at the very least ensure they use the console’s stand if keeping it vertical.

It’s possible this is the true culprit behind the Death Stranding 2 problem, but some claim the issue can affect horizontal consoles and even newly bought consoles.

As it stands, the true cause may remain a mystery unless a new patch drops, but if it is an issue with the hardware itself then this summer may expose the issue for even more people.

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