PS5 USB Ports Melted At EVO 2023 And Damaged Controllers

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Avinash Jaisrani

At HI Digital I test and write about different hardware configurations to show other PC users what they can expect from their build. My end goal is to educate the masses to make the right decision when they are looking for new PC parts to buy

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EVO is the biggest and most celebrated annual event for fans of the fighting game genre. The tournament includes games from franchises like Dragon Ball, Tekken, and Street Fighter, with competitors duking it out on PS5 consoles to determine the best players.

Since Sony owns the event, the PS5 console is used as the standard system at EVO tournaments. This was also the case for EVO 2023, but the console ran into a puzzling issue at the recent competition.

According to various reports, USB ports on the PS5 began to melt after frequent usage, and this led to damaged controllers for some users.

Why it matters: This could be concerning for future tournaments using the PS5 console. Fighting game players often have expensive controllers and arcade sticks, and damage would be detrimental to the competitors.

Got out of sf6 in winners, and the ps5 USB tried to break my stick😂 I can keep the piece that broke off as a souvenir pic.twitter.com/TFmZ3KJMgV

— Kyoku236HS (@Kyoku236HS) August 4, 2023

Kyoku reports that his arcade stick was almost broken when he tried to remove it from the console.

When the stick was removed, a piece of plastic from the console’s USB port came out with the stick. The user further stated that the PS5 USB port suffers the most damage in this scenario.

According to Kyoku, this is a massive issue for USB ports at the back of the console, likely due to the extreme heat. EVO has thousands of yearly entrants, and the tournament has consoles running for several hours consecutively.

Therefore, the heat from the PS5 appears to be the culprit in this scenario. Fortunately, gamers at home are unlikely to run into such issues unless their consoles are used throughout the day without any breaks.

https://twitter.com/cloudraven/status/1687861472632954880

Another user reported that the issue led to a damaged controller. However, some have claimed that the blue piece of plastic can be pulled out with tweezers to fix the controller. Nonetheless, this could leave the PS5 USB port broken and unusable.

Heads up to all PS5 players. Please be careful with the back USB ports. Seems the blue piece on the back is coming out and sticking to player USBs. We’re able to pull it out and the port will still work but just to be careful. pic.twitter.com/UBshHFJpsc

— Alex Jebailey (@Jebailey) August 4, 2023

Following these reports, competitors at EVO were advised to be careful with their controllers.

This could turn out to be a massive problem for the console. The PS5 will likely become the console of choice for all tournaments in the coming years, but the melting USB ports may become a hurdle for PlayStation.

Fortunately, rumors have claimed that a new console revision is in development, which could include better thermal management, completely eliminating the issue.

Avinash Jaisrani

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