Sony is said to be aware of the recently reported PS5 and PS4 CMOS issues and is reportedly investigating the matter.
As reported earlier this month, Sony’s PlayStation 4 will no longer play digital or physical games offline with a bad or missing CMOS battery. This also appears to be the case on PS5, although Sony’s next-gen does still seem to be playing a select number of physical titles once the CMOS battery is removed. The issues with the CMOS battery inside the PS4 were first brought up last month by game preservation team ‘Does it Play’. After the issue came to light, fans wrote up a template directed at Sony outlining the issue and key concerns.
“The issue was first brought to my attention by the team at @DoestItPlay1 on Twitter and relates to the internal timekeeping battery, colloquially referred to as the CMOS battery”, the template reads. “It has been discovered that once the battery runs dry then unless the console is able to connect to the internet then digital content purchased from the PlayStation Store will stop functioning. In the case of the PlayStation 4, the console will also be rendered unable to boot physical discs.”
“I ask that Sony issue a firmware patch to fix the identified issue and make a commitment to their customers, for the sake of future generations and the environment, that they will ensure that continued operation of their consoles and hardware will not be hindered by mandatory online updates or ‘check-ins.”
Luckily, as now being reported by the ‘Does it Play’ team, Sony appears to have contacted several users to notify them that it's looking into the issue. In addition, the preservation team writes that it has heard from several internal sources that the Sony PR team wants to deal with this matter as soon as possible as well.
Hopefully, Sony will soon release a fix for this troubling issue, especially considering the age of the PS4 and the fact that issues with the internal CMOS battery can soon arise for users not wanting to connect the console to the internet.