The 1.02 patch update has been deployed for both the PSN and Retail versions of the game. Both parties should now be able to play with each other online. 
 
If you are still having issues please let us know. @gamingexaminer
 
ORIGINAL POST
 
For those of you that downloaded the PSN (digital) version of Mass Effect 3, you will notice that you are prompted to download patch v1.02 before playing. Though this usually doesn’t cause any issues, it will prevent you from playing with your friends that own the physical copy.
 
Physical copy owners, that are not prompted to download the patch as of now, will receive the following error when trying to join their friends who have downloaded the 1.02 patch:

You cannot join your Friend’s game because you are not using the same version of the game. Please download the latest patch and try again.

We have reached out to EA to see if a fix is in the works, or when the 1.02 version will be available for disc-based gamers, as of now they have not responded.
 
If anyone else is encountering these issues, on another platform or with a physical copy that has the 1.02 update available, please sound off below.