Your PlayStation 5 is probably upside-down

By Chris Burns/

This week it's become extra clear that the design of the PlayStation 5 is not particularly intuitive. It became as clear as it is today as the Head of PlayStation Studios posted a photo of his cat attempting to bat at a creature in a game. Below the cat was a PlayStation 5 sitting upside-down.

As noted by stryke at Resetera, PlayStation's Hermen Hulst considered the incorrect arrangement of his PlayStation 5 so important, he deleted an earlier tweet and made an entirely new post, with the PS5 cropped out.

The Sony PlayStation 5 is supposed to be positioned one of two ways. One way is horizontal, with the disc drive below the center. The other correct way to position the PlayStation 5 is vertically – again with the disc drive below the center.

If you have a PlayStation 5 at home and the disc drive (or disc tray, if you prefer) is in any way above the center of the mass of the console, the console is upside-down.

The way your console sits isn't extremely important in the short-term, but over time, it can matter very much. The device is designed in such a way that gravity factors in after a certain (long) period of time. And of course there's the fan.

The fan inside the PlayStation 5 can be seen in teardowns of the console. The fan is made to send air through the console's front, back, and its curved side (opposite the disc drive).

According to the designers of the console, the most ideal way to place a PlayStation 5 is horizontally, with the front, back, and side opposite the disc drive all given ample room for airflow. Upside-down from here hangs the fan in an unnatural position. The same goes for the disc reader – it does well benefitting from gravity, rather than fighting against it.

In the end, the difference isn't monstrous, but you may as well position the PS5 in the way recommended by its makers to ensure as long an operating life for the console as possible.

Recommended