Sony Interactive Entertainment looks to have taken notice of a recent report that highlighted the possibility of a dead Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) battery bricking PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 consoles.
Taking to Twitter a couple of days ago, “preservation activists” Does It Play stated that Sony has started issuing emails to assure a quick resolution. That and internal sources have confirmed Sony to be taking up the matter with a sense of urgency.
Tweets on profile – but a few users have started receiving emails notify them Sony is looking at the issue and we have heard from internal sources the pr they want to get on top of it
— Does it play? (@DoesItPlay1) April 19, 2021
It was discovered last month that both PS4 and PS5 rely on their internal CMOS batteries to communicate with online services to enable the ability to run games. PS4 will stop reading physical discs as well as running digital games with a dead CMOS battery. PS5 on the other hand can apparently still play most PS4 discs but a dead CMOS battery will completely take away the ability to run digital games.
The all-digital PS5 console hence becomes a liability because a dead CMOS battery will completely brick the machine for use. Sony was expected to address the issue and which the PlayStation maker looks to be doing right now.
The matter needs to be quickly resolved because the all-digital PS5 in particular depends solely on the PlayStation Network. If that is taken away due to a dead CMOS battery, players will have no use for their console except to perhaps use the machine as a paperweight.
That being said, CMOS batteries tend to last for years and even if one dies, players can have them replaced without any issues. What Sony is trying to do is to have its PlayStation consoles continue running games offline even without a CMOS battery.
