X

Sony says less than 1 per cent of PS4s are flawed, offers swap

Sony reportedly says that only a few of its new consoles are borked, and says it will replace affected units.

Luke Westaway Senior editor
Luke Westaway is a senior editor at CNET and writer/ presenter of Adventures in Tech, a thrilling gadget show produced in our London office. Luke's focus is on keeping you in the loop with a mix of video, features, expert opinion and analysis.
See full bio
Luke Westaway
2 min read

PlayStation 4 launch woes affect less than one per cent of total consoles, Sony has reportedly stated.

On Monday the Japanese tech giant was quoted by the BBC as saying that the 'blue light of death' flaw that has seen PS4s stop working affected less than 0.4 per cent of consoles shipped.

Now it seems that figure has crept up a little -- but that's apparently down to some units being damaged during shipping.

Gameinformer quotes the console-maker as saying, "There have been several issues reported, which leads us to believe there isn’t a singular problem that could impact a broader percentage of PS4 units."

Sony reportedly goes on to say, "We also understand that some units were reportedly damaged during shipping. The number of affected PS4 systems is less than 1 per cent, which represents a very small percentage of total units shipped to date and is within the expected range for a new product introduction."

According to the site, Sony America has offered to exchange any broken units when customers call the company support line. "The exchanges are immediate with expedited shipping," Sony is quoted as saying.

Hopefully Sony will extend the same offer to any flawed PS4s in the UK too (once it goes on sale that is -- the PS4 isn't out here until 29 November), but I've contacted Sony UK to confirm, and ask how exchanges would work in this country.

Sony boasted that the PS4 sold 1 million units in its first day on sale, but will have to contend with the pricier Xbox One. See what the critics have been saying about Microsoft's rival console here.

Have you purchased the PS4? Have you had any trouble with the console? Are you holding off on buying one until more appealing games are released? Let me know your PlayStation strategy in the comments, or on our Facebook wall, or forget about next-gen gaming and hark back to a simpler time with our nostalgic Game Boy video feature.