LG OLED TVs Restart During Gaming – The Muzzle Flash Power Cycle Problem
PC gaming has many advantages—for instance, you can equip your rig with graphics cards more powerful than those in modern consoles. However, building computers is now far costlier than it used to be. Consoles are cheaper than gaming PCs upfront and generally offer consistent performance across different titles, not to mention the appeal of exclusives. Console graphics do not quite match high‑end PC graphics, but at least you do not have to worry about frying your GPU. You may, however, need to worry about games that can power cycle your television.
On February 27, Capcom released the latest entry in the Resident Evil franchise: Resident Evil: Requiem. Critics and players praised the game as another standout survival horror title from the company that popularized the genre. However, a small percentage of players encountered a strange issue: firing the Requiem—a powerful magnum assault revolver in the game—caused their OLED televisions to restart. One of the first to document this issue was Reddit user yorgo332 on r/LGOLED, who experienced the power cycling glitch on an LG C1 OLED TV.
Unfortunately, the issue is not limited to that specific TV set or even to a single game. Another user on r/LGOLED, RandomGamer414, posted videos of an LG G5 OLED power cycling while playing Cronos: The New Dawn. This time, instead of a white‑hot muzzle flash, a fiery explosion covering a large part of the screen triggered the restart.
Nobody Really Knows What Is Causing the Problem, but People Have Ideas
At the time of writing, LG has not acknowledged or made any announcements about this issue. Instead, r/LGOLED commenters have been collectively investigating the most likely explanations. Many have narrowed it down to two possible causes, although there is no universally applicable solution.
Some commenters blamed the TV’s power supply. Since the Requiem produces an intense muzzle flash across the screen, and rendering bright white light consumes more energy on OLED screens, the hypothesis suggests that the gunfire animation tries to draw more energy than the TV’s power supply can handle. Several other users corroborated this theory, claiming they encountered the same issue with LG G5 OLEDs. One person allegedly fixed the problem by plugging the TV into a separate power strip, while others reported no power cycling at all. The other likely explanation is that the extreme muzzle flash creates a massive voltage spike (again due to the energy required), and the TV restarts as a self‑protection mechanism.
Reddit user yorgo332 was among the first to document the problem with Resident Evil: Requiem. However, in a separate post, RandomGamer414 alleged that LG has known about the defect for years and has done nothing. RandomGamer414 also collected links to numerous posts from other gamers who encountered the LG power cycling fault while playing games such as Borderlands 3, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, and Rocket League. Therefore, if you are a gamer planning to buy an OLED TV in 2026, you may want to think twice about purchasing models in LG’s lineup for the time being.
