PS4 latest system update causes unexpected issue that affects online play

In less than a month, the PS5 will start shipping to consumers who were able to secure their preorders before stock allocations ran out. For those who live in the United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, South Korea, and Canada it will arrive on Nov. 12. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom and the rest of the world will receive theirs on Nov. 19, instead. Ahead of launch day, Sony has reportedly released a new system update for the PS4, but it seems issues are being reported.

"Following this update, Party and Messages will be more tightly linked together and you will see changes to the UI. Both apps will now use the same 'Groups' of players for Party voice chats and message exchanges, instead of having different groups setup across the two apps," reads the official blog post from Sony Senior Director of SIE Content communications Sid Shuman. "So now you can start a Party chat or send a message to the group you've previously chatted with across PS4, as well as PS5 when it launches."

Version 8.0 of the PS4 firmware is intended to tweak some functionalities ahead of the next-generation platform's arrival. Apparently, Sony made some changes as to how players can communicate and interact with other people online which will likely work across the two console generations. However, users are supposedly encountering problems with the party chat function as well as their list of online friends. This majority claim they are unable to create or join others for multiplayer.

Attempts to do so will often result in an error code "WS-446369" which, upon referencing it with Sony's PlayStation database does not yield any concrete detail about the cause and resolution. Meanwhile, some players shared workarounds that would work but unreliably in most cases. Equally notable is another concern brought up by players who read a notification informing them about voice chats being recorded.

This might be alarming for folks who take online privacy quite seriously, which, is probably why Sony addressed it almost immediately. Based on their statement, voice chat recording is intended for moderation purposes and will go live once the PS5 launches next month. PS4 users who join a party voice chat with players on the new game system will have their audio recorded as well. On the other hand, many believe it will be a useful feature to report abusive players and instances of harassment.