Last month, well-known hacker and modder Lance McDonald suggested that(you know him from the unofficial Bloodborne 60FPS patch), in a few years, PS4 players might not be able to play PS4 games offline when the CMOS battery inside the console dies. Fast forward a few weeks and a Twitter user has now posted proof that this is indeed the case.

　　Twitter user Forest (@Forest_Reviews) decided to purchase a PS4 Slim model to test whether PS4 games will no longer work due to a bad or missing CMOS battery without an internet connection. “I went out and picked up this #PS4 slim in order to take it apart and remove the battery inside of it, Forest writes. “This test is to determine what will happen if the CMOS battery goes bad and pretending the PSN servers are offline. By replicating the issue, we hope to have some record of it.”

　　As it turns out, removing the battery inside Sony’s console prevents people from playing any physical or digital games without an active internet connection (or with PSN being down). When trying to play games, users are presented with error code “CE-30391-6”.

　　@DoesItPlay1 @Food4Dogs @Fondle_Saurus just as @HikikomoriMedia mentioned in his video with the CMOS battery. I took out the battery to see if I could replicate the issue and well, It does not play any physical or digital games without connecting online. error CE-30391-6 appears pic.twitter.com/KzWPF9a2Nq

　　— Forest (@Forest_Reviews) April 12, 2021

　　Down below we’ve included some tweets of Forest showing the PS4 CMOS issue with digital and physical titles.

　　If you want proof of the #cmos issue with ps4's then heres video. I took out the battery and put the ps4 back together. The result, no physical or digital games work offline without connecting to Sony's server. ALSO may cause game install data corruption @dark1x @Dachsjaeger pt1 pic.twitter.com/ltCmh6M6rH

　　— Forest (@Forest_Reviews) April 12, 2021

　　In order to play games without a working CMOS battery, users are required to connect to PSN. This applies to both physical and digital PS4 titles.

　　Pt2 After reinstalling Toukiden 2, the same thing happens. Without the #cmos battery installed both Atelier Ryza 2 and Toukiden 2 must connect to the server in order for them to work, even though these are physical disc. gives error CE-30391-6 @dark1x @Dachsjaeger @Food4Dogs pic.twitter.com/k9TImm36Qb

　　— Forest (@Forest_Reviews) April 12, 2021

　　PT3 I decided to connect the #ps4 back to Sony's servers to see if the games would start to work again. It would work but only after logging back into the account. just to recap, this ps4 has no battery installed as I removed it for testing. #cmos #cbomb @dark1x @Dachsjaeger pic.twitter.com/mLC1YQAJJ0

　　— Forest (@Forest_Reviews) April 12, 2021

　　Of course, this will only prove to be troublesome when the CMOS battery inside the console gets removed or dies, and one doesn’t want to connect the PS4 to Sony’s network. Still, we found this quite interesting and we’re curious to see how Sony will respond to this.

　　In general CMOS batteries tend to have a lifespan of roughly 5 years although they can last over a decade depending on the quality of the battery, system use, etc.