Update: It looks like services have been restored. If you are still having issues, please try restarting your console and being patient as PSN services return.
Original: Sony’s PlayStation Network appears to be down for many users right now, impacting the ability to use any of the PSN services such as online play, license restoration, friends lists, and more. Sony has acknowledged the outage, and many players are reporting that they are experiencing PSN down issues across various services to varying degrees.
PSN Down
Sony’s PSN status currently says that some services are experiencing issues, specifically the “Account Management” features that let you do things like edit your profile. “Sony specifically says this could affect users being able to even sign into their PSN accounts. “You might have difficulty signing in or creating an account for PlayStation Network. We’re working to resolve the issue as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.”
Our own testing seems to show issues being able to sign in to our PSN accounts, which is impacting game licenses and blocking access to certain games. This can particularly be an issue if you live in a multi-PS4/PS5 household and use primary and alternate consoles to do game sharing with your family members, which requires a “check-in” with the PSN to verify licenses and ownership of games to the users logged to that specific console.
UPDATE: Sony has now adjusted the PSN status to list all services as down, including Gaming and Social, PlayStation Now, PlayStation Video, PlayStation Store, and PlayStation Direct. You can still use your console to play games offline (as long as you don’t run into licensing issues and/or the games you want to play don’t require an online connection), and you should still be able to use streaming apps and services like Netflix to watch streaming video content.
The PSN down issues are impacting all PlayStation platforms and services, including PS3, PS4, PS5, Vita, and web services.
With Sony aware of the issue and many players also running into problems, it’s expected to be fixed rather quickly. Are you running into any issues signing into the PSN? Let us know if you hit any PSN down errors in the comments below while we all wait for it to come back up so we can get back to enjoying the myriad games that require an internet connection to play.
While you’re here, don’t miss our early preview of Returnal, praising the Housemarque shooter as the first truly next-gen game.
