There’s something strange going on right now in relation to PlayStation Network.
As reported by GameRant, several PlayStation 5 owners are going online to complain that they have been suspended off of their accounts. One such user, Michael Dhaliwal, shared screenshots, revealing just how arbitrary and strange these suspensions were.
As Dhaliwal explains, he did not have any outstanding chargebacks, AKA, he had no recent transactions on PSN for Sony to penalize him with a suspension. He also was not aware of any infractions he had committed that broke Sony’s terms and conditions for PSN, or the PlayStation 5 console, that would cause Sony to suspend his account.
But the worst part came when he shared the issue with PlayStation customer service. They advised him to just make a new account, and disconnected his contact with them.
A few hours after this, Dhaliwal shared that his account simply started working again. Other users seemingly had the same issue, where their accounts were suspended with no clear explanation, and they were allowed to use PlayStation Network again hours later.
Sony may want its users to dismiss the issue completely, but if they don’t provide any explanation, it would not bode well for Sony. PlayStation Network is particularly notorious for being repeatedly hacked, in many cases compromising user information. There are also cases when we discovered PSN information was compromised before Sony notified its consumers. We simply cannot give Sony the benefit of the doubt because of their track record.
If this issue comes up again, and/or in a wider scale, it would seriously compromise the PlayStation experience. While theoretically you would not need a PlayStation Network account to use a PlayStation 5, it is practically impossible not to do so otherwise. A PlayStation Network account is required to access multiple vital services. That includes updating the PlayStation 5 firmware, and to update games themselves.
It simple would not make sense to stay offline in this era where modern games continuously get hotfixes and patches, unless you were one of the few people whose job was working on offline preservation of PlayStation 5 hardware and titles.
Of course, if you buy any digital games, they are tied to your PlayStation Network account too. If your PlayStation 5 unit gets broken, you can easily migrate your games and data to a new console thanks to your PlayStation Network account. If you’re suspended, however, you don’t have any access to these games.
So this PSN suspension issue is a real can of worms, that Sony is likely hoping doesn’t become a serious issue down the line. Hopefully the company will share what they know with the public to reassure us.
