  While there are many parallels between matroid theory and $q$-matroid theory,
most notably on the level of cryptomorphisms, there are substantial differences
when it comes to the direct sum. The direct sum of $q$-matroids has been
introduced in the literature only recently. In this short note we show that the
direct sum of representable $q$-matroids may not be representable. It remains
an open question whether representability of the direct sum can be
characterized by the given $q$-matroids.
