PS5 Vertical Position Is Actually Normal
For decades, video game companies have given gamers the choice of how to position their consoles. PS2, Wii, Xbox 360, Wii U, PS4 and many more let you decide whether to position them horizontally or vertically, and some even have a stand. The PS5 doesn’t buck this trend, and Sony encourages you to orient it however you want. That hasn’t stopped the flow of viral rumors that mounting the PS5 vertically could damage it. Frankly, this is nonsense.
The story began six days ago when gaming site Wololo.net reported a hardware vulnerability in the PS5 that could cause the console’s “liquid metal thermal paste” to spill onto other components of the machine when played in an upright position. Wololo cited several different repairers who reported experiencing problems when customers brought their devices in for repair. The site even claimed that this applies to consoles that have not yet been taken out of the box.
The report took off and many other gaming publications covered the story. If the problem were real, this would obviously be bad news: after all, Sony’s ads often depict the console in a vertical position, which likely encourages many buyers to mount it that way. And given that the console is upright in the box, this looks like an issue that could lead Sony to a recall.
Well, recently Vololo made the news again, but not in a positive way. Instead, it turns out that they misquoted one of their sources, TheCod3r, in the original report. Vololo thought TheCod3r was saying that the issue was with PS5 devices that were still sealed in their boxes, i.e. “unopened”. What the technician meant, however, was that they saw the problem on devices that had not previously been opened for repair .
Wololo released a fix, detailing the issues in a short Twitter thread . They also corrected and clarified the misinformation in the original article so that future readers can understand the issue. While the site has faced some criticism for the bug, it’s important to note that they don’t retract their original claim: Based on their sources, they still believe the PS5’s upright position is risky. So did TheCod3r, even if they didn’t mean it while the console was sealed in the box. But keep reading.
You can hold your PS5 upright.
The problem is that there isn’t really enough evidence to call this something of a widespread problem among PS5s used in the upright position. So far, Sony has sold over 30 million units in the two years of the console’s life. Unlike Joy-Con drift , which seems to affect most Switch players at one time or another, reports of liquid metal leaks in vertically oriented PS5s are few and far between. And while these reports seem to be completely reliable, there may be other reasons causing the problem, such as units that took damage elsewhere, which places the blame on specific units rather than a widespread design flaw.
In short, with so many PS5 players around the world not complaining about this issue, it seems safe to continue positioning the console the way you like. The thing is massive , so go ahead and attach it anywhere and however you like. Personally, I don’t have room to keep it vertical, so I’m on the team horizontally. But if your setup is best suited for a vertical PS5, or you just prefer it that way, go for it. Everything will be fine.