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As reported recently, an oversight in the PlayStation 4’s firmware could render your physical and digital games unplayable in a hypothetical, faraway future. A simple clock battery inside the console is used to verify the time and date that Trophies are unlocked in order to prevent cheating, but these will die in every device one day. While the battery can be easily replaced, you need to connect to the PlayStation Network at least once before you can play your games. Some people on social media are concerned that, one day, PlayStation may turn its servers off – rendering any systems with dead batteries bricked.

Of course, a simple end of life firmware update for the PS4 could solve that problem – and the chances of it shutting down any of the PS4’s core online infrastructure within the next 10 to 15 years are slim to none. It’s also worth remembering that, even in a potential dystopian future where all of the system’s services are offline, the PS5 is fully backwards compatible with near-enough the entirety of the PS4’s library.

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Nevertheless, here’s proof of what could happen should circumstances align where Sony’s servers are down and your PS4 clock battery dies:

https://twitter.com/Forest_Reviews/status/1381476327677648905

So yeah, it’s potentially problematic stuff: you get a CE-30391-6 error code, and you can’t play physical or digital games. The error was replicated by removing and replacing the battery from a PS4 Slim, which is what would happen should said power source die. Sony, unsurprisingly, is yet to comment on this; we’re not particularly concerned, to be honest, because there are so many issues that would need to align in order for this to become a real problem – and even if it does happen, it won’t be for well over a decade or two anyway.

[source twitter.com]