PS4 Sold Out, Sony To Repair Bricked And Malfunctioning Systems

The Sony PS4 hit shelves last Friday, and the console sold an astounding 1 million units in the U.S. and Canada within the first 24 hours of its release. The PS4 is currently sold out on popular websites like Amazon, Best Buy and Wal-Mart, but the console is available on auction sites like eBay for up to $1,000.

As expected with any new system launch, buyers are already reporting flaws, bugs and impairments, including consoles that arrived immediately bricked or systems that would not boot into safe mode. Sony was swift to respond to the concerns surrounding its PS4 and released the following statement:

“We are aware that some people have reported issues with their PlayStation 4 systems. We are closely monitoring for additional reports, but we think these are isolated incidents and represent a very small percentage of total units shipped to consumers to date.”

Some buyers are warning eager PS4 fans to wait until Sony works out the console’s kinks before purchasing. Users are also reporting the HDMI port is often the source of the system’s malfunctions. While some players are attempting to fix faulty systems on their own, a majority of the problems require that the PS4s be sent back to Sony for repairs. Purchasers are weary of receiving the Blue Light of Death (similar to the red ring of death that Xbox users face when their system dies), and hundreds of those who waited patiently for their console were forced to ship the item back to Sony.

“While it’s impossible to accurately gauge how far the claims of broken systems extend, prior to launch, Sony shared that their expected failure rate for the console was 0.4 percent,” said Justin Haywald of GameSpot. “That’s about 1 in 250. With over 1 million systems sold, that comes to about 4,000 potentially broken systems.” With any next-gen console, a certain level of glitches is expected. Still, it's frustraing to spend $399 on a shiny new toy and not be able to play with it.

Were you one of the lucky million to get your hands on a PS4? Have you experienced any problems, or do you love your system? Leave a comment below.