Evo 2023 Esports Tournament Experiences Issues with PS5 USB Ports Melting

Attendees of the Evo 2023 fighting game tournament faced issues with PlayStation 5 USB ports, as reported over the weekend. Social media platforms were flooded with posts and stories from participants, who shared their experiences of USB accessories becoming excessively hot and even “melting” when connected to the event’s multiple PS5 consoles.

Current Google (and ex-Meta and Microsoft) AR engineer Eduardo Cuervo, who said he attended the event for the first time this year, posted on X (formerly Twitter) the image below of the controller’s USB connector containing melted chunks of PS5 blue. port. “Mine wasn’t the only controller that [melted] down,” he wrote. “This is just terrible. You need to do something about this lack of heat dissipation, especially if you plan to use the PS5 in tournaments.”

The incident seemed common enough that several users echoed his complaint. “After my [Street Fighter 6] set, my opponent politely took my lead for me and came with a PS5 USB receiver,” Reddit user u/SyrupyCereal wrote. “You broke my Junkfood cable right then and there! I didn’t find out until I played my first match in [Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising] and I felt like an idiot for not being able to plug my cable into the PS5. You see, the guy who broke it earlier , also took a souvenir from another PS5.”

It is not clear what was behind the apparent overheating. This is far from the first esports tournament to use PS5 systems, and there haven’t been similar widespread complaints of gate meltdowns before. Of course, competitions like the Evo involve highly unusual conditions that most console owners will never encounter, including countless nearby systems where the rear USB accessories (located next to the console’s vents) plug in and out over the course of a hectic weekend. Additionally, some contributors speculated that people were plugging in unsupported USB adapters, allowing them to use incompatible controllers that may have damaged the console’s ports.

“Not all USB ports on devices are created equal,” u/xeleion, who says he attended the event, posted on Reddit. “And on the PS5, some people [were] dependent on converters like the Wingman because their sticks aren’t natively PS5 compatible.” They also estimated that the convention area was a comfortable 70-72 degrees Fahrenheit throughout the weekend and that event organizers were not taking any chances with the championships. “In the finale, every time there was a commercial break, they switched the PS5 to a different unit, probably just to minimize the worry.”

ReturnByte reached out to PlayStation and Evo 2023 (acquired by Sony in 2021) via email for comment, but we have yet to hear back at the time of publication. We’ll update this article if either one responds.