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PS5 online play and PS Plus subs down following system update

PlayStation 5 users have been reportedly unable to play online games, claiming that the system doesn't recognize their PS Plus memberships.

TJ Denzer

March 23, 2022 7:42 AM

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PlayStation seems to have rolled out a system update late last night for PS5 consoles with the usual run of fixes and bug tweaks. However, for anything that it might have fixed, many users are reporting that it broke something rather big. As of the update, a number of PS5 players are reporting being unable to play online games with PlayStation Plus subscriptions reportedly not being recognized by the system.

The reports of this issue come from various users across Twitter since PlayStation implemented its latest PS4/PS5 system update on March 23, 2022. The update was supposed to bring open and closed party improvements, as well as upgrades to PS Remote Play and the PlayStation App. Unfortunately, it seems to have also made it so that a lot of users are experiencing an error on PS5 when attempting to play games online via PlayStation Plus. When attempted, the console apparently does not recognize an active PS Plus subscription, prompting players to buy another subscription even if they supposedly have an active one. DownDetector has also seen a spike in reports related to the PlayStation Network since the update occurred.

Shacknews was also able to confirm the issue on PS5. On some games like Elden Ring, the console claims that it “Could not verify PlayStation Plus Subscription,” while on other games like Guilty Gear Strive, it will say “Something went wrong” and present PS5 Error Code WS-116522-7, which appears to be related to a failure of the system update. Either way, in both cases, we were unable to log into online play sections of various games.

We’re still waiting on definitive word or fixes from PlayStation in relation to the recent PS5 online issues and PS Plus subscriptions. We will update this story as new details and solutions become available.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.