Some PS4 owners are experiencing a frightening glitch that's forcing them to factory reset their consoles. Reports began to circulate on Reddit about the console-breaking bug, which apparently comes in the form of an unintelligible message that's appearing in the inboxes of some PS4s. Thankfully, there seems to be a quick and easy preventative measure everyone can take to avoid falling victim to the malicious exploit.

The first report of this specific bug was from a Reddit user who, after playing an online match of Rainbow Six: Siege, received a cryptic message from a member of the opposing team. After opening it, the player's PS4 locked up along with most of his teammates'. With the exception of one player on the team, who had his messages set to private, everyone on the team was forced to factory reset their PS4s to regain functionality.

Even scarier, others are experiencing the glitch simply by receiving the notification for the message. According to Reddit user Forkrul, the message generally needs to be displayed in some way in order to be effective, however, "the notification can be enough depending on how much of the message it parses."

While none of this is concrete and Sony has yet to even acknowledge the problem, it is advised for PS4 owners, especially those who play competitive online games, to set their messages to private. Concerned users can go to Settings > Account Management > Privacy Settings to change Message settings to private.

Unfortunately, as of now, there doesn't seem to be a solution beyond prevention. Some affected users are finding success in deleting the message via the mobile app, while others aren't having any luck going that route.

Without diving into the technical details, it's pretty clear that affected users are receiving the messages from vengeful opponents from online matches. The situation underscores the toxicity present in many online gaming communities and stands as a cautionary message for anyone playing online with strangers. With games like Destiny 2 boasting massive amounts of active players and the forthcoming Black Ops 4 sure to see comparable figures, it's a better time than ever to practice civil discourse and lock up those inboxes just to be sure.

Source: Reddit