PS5 stuck on Gears loading screen

I convinced my sister to pick up PoE2 on PS5.
She has installed it and booted the game. It plays the intro cutscene and then hits the loading screen with two gears turning (Or Grinding, if you will). It stalls there and does not move past it.
We've waited 15+ minutes multiple times.
We've closed the game from the PS5 home screen and re-opened it, same issue.

Is this a known issue/is there a workaround?

i have the same issue on xbox one series x .. it just started happening today so something with new patch. tried everything to fix and so far nothing works.

It was pretty bad to me yesterday on the 14th. I couldn't even get into the game for almost 2 hours and a 1/2. I'm sorry the 13th, me and my friend have to cancel because we just couldn't get in. He could but I couldn't