Gamers using a PlayStation 5 are suffering from a particularly nasty bug, dubbed the ‘queued for download’ bug. Essentially, some unlucky players are unable to download games; when trying to download a title, it bugs out and stays in download limbo for ever. The only solution as of writing this is apparently factory resetting the console!
PlayStation 5 download bug
After trying to download a game, some unlucky players experience one of the following two bugs. Either the game goes into the ‘queued for download’ state, or the PlayStation 5 recognizes the bug and produces an error message. Either way, the game is then stuck in download limbo forever.
CoD: Black Ops Cold War is not the culprit
Multiple media have been able to reproduce the problem (though not voluntarily, we assume). IGN first reported on the issue, stating that three staff members encountered the bug. Other media soon followed, almost exclusively pointing at Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War as the culprit.
@ATVIAssist Hi I am unable to access the PS5 version of the game. It's says queued for download but nothing works! pic.twitter.com/L9NopfnOVj
— Sai Siddharth (@SaiS_Kalla) November 13, 2020
But IGN had the same problem with other PlayStation 5 launch games, such as Demon’s Souls, Spider-Man: Remastered, Sackboy: A Big Adventure. As of writing, it is believed that trying to download a game while the SSD is full causes it to bug out. So it’s no surprise that CoD: Black Ops Cold War is being pointed as, seeing as Activision continiously insists on insanely large install files.
No simple fix
Sony subsequently launched an impromptu troubleshooting page, but there doesn’t appear to be an easy fix for the PlayStation 5 download bug available right now. Firstly, Sony refers to your purchase history to check if you’ve actually purchased the game. But how can you download a game you haven’t purchased? The Japanese company then suggests clearing some hard disk space and/or reinstalling the game. Both those things do not however save a bugged game from download limbo.
The only successful fix we’ve encountered on multiple platforms, is resetting your PlayStation 5 to factory settings. Apparently, this does retain your preferences and settings. But you are still forced to download all your games again. To clarify, we haven’t tested this fix ourselves, so maybe it’s safer to wait for a fix by Sony if you don’t want to re-download everything.
Stay tuned for a fix. If there is one, we’ll be sure to let you know, either through this website or our Facebook page.
Image credit: @Sai Siddharth via Twitter