Sony patches PS4 “CBOMB” issue

Earlier this year, we reported an issue with the PS4 concerning its CMOS battery. This battery maintains the system’s real-time clock, which displays the date and time. It’s also used to authenticate games and trophy information with the servers. Problems occur when both the battery dies, and the console is unable to connect to the PlayStation Network. If the console cannot verify the time with its own internal battery or via external servers, every single game on the system will be rendered unplayable. This includes disc based titles.

The news caused alarm within the retro and game preservation communities. The CMOS batteries generally do last a long time, but they don’t last forever. Should Sony decide to sunset network service for the PS4, which they will inevitably do at some point down the road, it will basically render those consoles useless. Consoles that would otherwise work perfectly aside from this one little DRM quirk.

Well, Sony has listened to fans’ concerns and developed a solution to the problem. Recently released Firmware 9.0 patches out the requirement, allowing games to still be played on original hardware, should this issue crop up. While not officially announced in the update, independent tests have confirmed that the so called “CBOMB” issue is no longer present, and that games will continue to work with no battery and no internet connection.

Sony has faced controversy recently in regards to their treatment of legacy systems and games. However, it seems the company is keen to make amends over the situation. This included electing to keep the PS3 and Vita stores open after fan backlash regarding their planned closures.

Rival Xbox consoles also have a similar DRM issue that prevents backwards compatible Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One games from being playable without an internet connection. However, there’s no word on whether Microsoft plans on fixing this to bring it more inline with Sony’s policies.