PlayStation banning IDs with no warning as users lose access to PSN

Some PlayStation users are waking up to unwelcome news this morning as a number have received emails explaining they have been banned from the PlayStation Network service for violation of its terms and conditions – the problem being nobody seems to know what they have done.

X and Reddit are awash with complaints about the situation after users received a message saying, “This account is permanently suspended from PlayStation Network due to violations of the PlayStation Network Terms of Service and User Agreement.”

Without any notice, @PlayStation / @AskPlayStation permanently banned me from the #PlayStation Network. No one knows why! I don't have a chargeback, I can't appeal & no response to suspension status. CS says to create a new account & disconnected me.#sony #psn #gaming #ps5 pic.twitter.com/YdoeHM76Iv

— Michael Dhaliwal (@michaeldhaliwal) December 4, 2023

Affected users, all of which are saying they believe that they have not broken any conditions, are either receiving the usual scripted response from Customer Service that they have violated the agreement, or even worse, struggling to get through at all – which suggests a high volume of incoming contacts with may indicate a wider issue at play.

User Lars G on X said. “This just happened to me. I spoke to a rep and it was the most Kafkaesque experience. They said my account violated terms of service, but wouldn’t (or couldn’t) tell me what term I had apparently violated. I only play single-player games, I don’t play online.

There has been a suggestion that an official statement from Sony may be forthcoming, but this is word of mouth from a  user who managed to speak to Customer Services – we will bring you more on that as and when it happens.

Meanwhile, other users are suggesting steering clear of logging on to avoid being banned, but this seems unlikely to work as messages are already being sent and not necessarily linked to logging on.

It has been an uncomfortable couple of days for Sony PlayStation – yesterday we reported that players were having content they had purchased removed from their libraries due to a change in licensing, while Microsoft is also set to pass PlayStation for the first time in terms of income generation.