Did you know that cockroaches really love your PS4?

By Trevor Mogg April 20, 2017

ps4 cockroach house roach — Tenra/123RF

Give your PlayStation 4 a gentle shake and you might discover that it’s been operating not only as a gaming console, but also as a motel. For cockroaches.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, roaches are reportedly one of the main causes of PS4 breakdowns.

It seems that the wide ventilation grate at the base of the machine offers the perfect entry point for the critters, which love the PS4 for its cozy, warm interior, according to a report this week from gaming site Kotaku. With many PS4 owners resting their machine on its side with the base exposed, the roaches are able move into their new home with ease.

A Manhattan-based console repair store told the site it has a bag full of dead cockroaches extracted from broken PS4 machines brought in by gamers. The store receives at least one roach-infested PS4 a week, and now charges a $25 “roach fee” to deal with such cases.

While cockroaches can also live happily enough inside an Xbox, the PS4 seems to be the console of choice for the insect thanks to its wider grate, and also because the PS4 runs hotter than its rival machine, creating a very comfy nesting ground.

The problem is, the more roaches that move in, the more chance there is of damage to one of the PS4’s components, leading to a trip to the repair store where “independent console repairmen have the pleasure of scrubbing the roach crap off your console’s power supply,” Kotaku explained.

At the store, staff open up the PS4, remove the roach-related detritus, sterilize the interior, and replace any broken parts before putting it back together.

While you might think that it’s better to have roaches inside your PS4 rather than scurrying around your kitchen exploring your edibles, the likelihood is that if they’re in your gaming machine, there’ll be a lot more of them in your kitchen. So, yes, the best way to keep the critters out of your PS4 — and all of the rooms in your home — is simply to keep your living space as clean as you possibly can. Either than or put some cash aside for a trip to your local PS4 repair store.

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Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…

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