Sony’s battle against PS5 jailbreaks is bringing a fresh wave of criticism, as it requires players to update their firmware in order to play certain games.
The Japanese giant – already on thin ice online due to its decision to cease manufacturing discs – has been deploying updates at an increased rate, as it responds to hacks which have opened up its console.
Some newer physical games require you to be running the latest version of the firmware in order to play, which has attracted some criticism from some corners of social media.
In the aftermath of the manufacturer’s decision to cease making physical discs in 2028, some feel this is Sony placing yet more restrictions on players.
But this has been common across pretty much all consoles dating back to the PS3 era. Often discs will allow you to install the required update directly from the Blu-ray, while it can also be downloaded from PlayStation’s website if you don’t want to connect your console directly to the Internet.
Despite this being common practice for well over a decade now, Sony’s approach to combating these jailbreaks is attracting intense criticism on social media.
“And Sony still wonders why people hate them now,” one user wrote on X (or Twitter).
“We don’t hate this company enough,” another added.
It’s all just a continuation of the discourse that’s been running all year, which has seen Sony become a target for many of its decisions online. So far, it doesn’t appear to be affecting the firm’s ability to sell consoles.
Personally, I don’t blame anyone but the pirates in this particular situation.
I imagine firmware updates are going to be coming more frequently over the coming months, as Sony plays cat-and-mouse with hackers continuing to open up its console.
That’s going to make using the PS5 more inconvenient for the rest of us, but I don’t think we can criticise Sony for trying to protect its product and partners here.
