Sony PS4 Parties

One of the biggest changes PlayStation 4 firmware update 8.00 made earlier today was a complete overhaul of the party system. It has interlinked the messaging system with party functionality to, on the surface, make sending off numerous party invites at once a complete breeze. However, that's not how the PS4 community has taken to it. Reddit PS4 and other Sony-focused communities are pleading with the Japanese giant to revert back to the original system as the updated party mechanic is now presenting so many more problems than it needs to.

What this update has essentially done, as far as we understand it, is introduce so many more steps to forming a party than there needs to be. Before update 8.00, you could simply start a party by opening up your friends list and popping off invites to your buddies. Now, you can only invite users via pre-formed message groups. Now, this change is fine if you have a dedicated group of people you play with and that line-up never changes. However, the moment you veer off that path, problems start to arise.

Let's say one of your friends has a buddy who wants to join the party for some Call of Duty: Warzone matches. You would have to create yet another message group purely to send them an invite, when before you could simply list the party as public and they'd be able to join by themselves. Imagine having to repeat this process over and over again every single time a new player wants to join your squad. Sony has created a hassle where there wasn't one. Worse still is that private parties don't even seem to be a thing anymore.

Sony PS4 Parties 2

Because of this, the PS4 subreddit has been on fire for the past couple of hours, asking Sony to revert the system back to what it once was. It's even tougher to test the feature properly right now anyway because friends lists aren't loading in. Reddit user Cool-Sage said: "It’s like it regressed from having ease of access, multiple settings, and being fast to sluggish, unappealing, and more complicated. Plus my whole system is acting up so there’s definitely some bugs."

ItXurLife adds: "Seriously Sony, what were you thinking? Who tested this and thought it was okay? I play a few online games with a large number of players, but not always with the same people, and now every time I want to be in a party with people I need to create a new group? That is beyond stupid. There's so many things wrong with the new party system, I am lost for words."

Have you too been having a lot of trouble with the new PS4 party system? Let us know in the comments below.

[source reddit.com]