PS5

Game loses sound and a hard crash then follows within minutes.

I always play with 3 other players and we have noticed that this seems to occur when encountering/engaging with other players and has a good chance of occuring to one of us per encounter. It's quite common.

Interestingly, it has never happened while meeting/playing with each other, from what we have noticed. When we are sure we are the only players in an area.

Our experience leads us to suspect the game isn't happy with more than 3+ players in a given area, causing the crash.

Or, I cannot confirm for sure, but a bullet being shot has also coincided with a crash on occasions too, but this might be cooincidence.

It does not happen in busy costal areas, but more commonly further inland where players have more gear/loot/items on their person. This leads me to believe its not potentially an issue with the number of players present in an area, but the amount of items on a player.

Or, a particular piece of loot/item only found further inland which is causing the crash that a player may be carrying.

My speculation is based on my experience only.

This is not a new crash. I have experienced this for years, even on PS4, but it was rare. Its frequency has increased a lot, perhaps around 5 times in a 3 hour session between 3 players, in a populated server.