For most people February 29, the date that only comes around once every four years, is mostly a fun novelty, but the leap year day also has the potential to wreak havoc on tech systems. This year at least two games have had issues on February 19, forcing players to change the date on their console if they want to keep playing.
Racing game EA Sports WRC was one of the games that began seeing issues as soon as console clocks ticked over to February 29, forcing EA tech support to release a tweet suggesting players should change their console’s date to March 1 to continue playing.
According to the support account, this issue is present on both PlayStation and Xbox versions of the game.
Guidance for PlayStation players:
1⃣ On your console, go to Settings > System > Date and Time > Set Date and Time > Set Manually.
2⃣ Change the date to March 1, 2024.
3⃣ Once this change has been done, the game should function normally.
— EA Help (@EAHelp) February 29, 2024
Another game that ran into issues with the unusual date was Final Fantasy rhythm game Theatrhythm Final Bar Line, which also crashed on startup due to the console date. Players who changed their console date one day ahead reported they could then load the game successfully. The Square Enix support page for the game states: “This issue will be resolved when the date changes to March 1, 2024.”
Games aren’t the only technology that have run into issues due to the leap year day. One notable incident saw gas pumps across New Zealand cease to function, while police in some parts of Japan found themselves unable to issue or renew driver’s licences. A number of apps and technology including certain smartwatches also reportedly struggled with the date. The good news is that all this chaos will only last for one day–at least until the next leap year arrives in 2028.