diff --git a/src/director/playback.js b/src/director/playback.js
index 175534434..2e243d748 100644
--- a/src/director/playback.js
+++ b/src/director/playback.js
@@ -95,7 +95,11 @@ export async function playSceneQueue(
       try {
         await adapter.releaseScene(toRelease);
       } catch (error) {
-        if (!runError) throw error;
+        if (runError) {
+          console.warn('[Scenes] Scene release failed:', error);
+        } else {
+          throw error;
+        }
       }
     }
   }
diff --git a/src/director/playback.test.mjs b/src/director/playback.test.mjs
index 73de9b444..be56079e2 100644
--- a/src/director/playback.test.mjs
+++ b/src/director/playback.test.mjs
@@ -200,18 +200,28 @@ test('a cleanup failure rejects for the caller to restore its own controls', asy
 test('a phase failure is preserved when final scene release also throws', async () => {
   const phaseError = new Error('travel failed');
   const releaseError = new Error('release failed');
-  const f = fixture({
-    travel: async () => {
-      throw phaseError;
-    },
-    releaseScene: async () => {
-      throw releaseError;
-    },
-  });
-  await assert.rejects(
-    playSceneQueue(buildPlaybackQueue(scenes, 'a', { single: true }), f),
-    (error) => error === phaseError,
-  );
+  const warnings = [];
+  const origWarn = console.warn;
+  console.warn = (...args) => warnings.push(args);
+  try {
+    const f = fixture({
+      travel: async () => {
+        throw phaseError;
+      },
+      releaseScene: async () => {
+        throw releaseError;
+      },
+    });
+    await assert.rejects(
+      playSceneQueue(buildPlaybackQueue(scenes, 'a', { single: true }), f),
+      (error) => error === phaseError,
+    );
+    assert.equal(warnings.length, 1);
+    assert.equal(warnings[0][0], '[Scenes] Scene release failed:');
+    assert.equal(warnings[0][1], releaseError);
+  } finally {
+    console.warn = origWarn;
+  }
 });
 
 test('a failing inter-scene release releases the active scene only once', async () => {