An unexpected issue has caused a moment of panic among the PlayStation community after some users received a notification their accounts were permanently banned. While some of these “bans” have been reversed, others still remain unable to access their game libraries.
PlayStation users were impacted in the late evening of Dec. 4, as first reported by The Verge. “Without any notice, PlayStation banned me from the PlayStation Network. No one knows why!” one affected user said on Twitter. It would take a little over five hours, but eventually, their account was restored.
Players logged onto the PlayStation Network and were greeted by an error screen and a message reading, “Due to violations of the PlayStation Network Terms of Service and User Agreement, this account’s access to PlayStation Network has been suspended indefinitely.”
Annoyingly, some players were turned away by PlayStation support teams without answers after reaching out to enquire why the ban was issued. One user received a response stating Sony was addressing the problem and to wait for an official notice about the issue, but no such announcement had been made before this article was published. Another managed to reach PlayStation support by phone but was told their account was “compromised” and would be manually reactivated.
Oddly, there doesn’t seem to be any one factor connecting the affected users. Normally a new piece of hardware or those residing in a single location may be affecting users, but it seems the false bans are affecting many users regardless of geographical location or equipment usage.
Dot Esports has reached out to Sony Interactive Entertainment for comment but has not yet received a response.
At the end of the day, there shouldn’t be cause for concern. The issue is likely on Sony’s end given the rollout of unbans currently occurring, so affected users are advised to attempt to log in after a few hours and contact support channels if they haven’t done so already.
