Feels good to be a PC gamer right about now.
The PlayStation network has been completely borked for 16 hours and counting at the time of writing, first going offline at 1 AM CET / 7 PM ET / 4 PM PT on February 8. Sony has yet to provide an explanation for the outage, which affects PSN logins and services across all platforms, including PS5, PS4, PS3, PS Vita, and PC.
Sony’s only official comment on the matter has been a tweet from the Ask PlayStation support account that reads, “We are aware some users might be currently experiencing issues with PSN,” with a link to a network service status page that reports outages in the following services:
- Account Management
- Gaming and Social
- PlayStation Video
- PlayStation Store
- PlayStation Direct
A community note on the Ask PlayStation tweet points out that it fails to capture the full extent of the outage: “some” users as opposed to, apparently, literally every user. The community note also alleges that this may be the result of a DDoS attack, citing Sony support messages shared elsewhere on social media, but that explanation has yet to be confirmed. A pinned moderator comment on the PlayStation subreddit’s megathread on the issue notes that there are a number of users spreading “incorrect service information, rumors, and outright lies” in the absence of a full accounting from Sony.
At the time of writing, I can still access streaming services like Netflix and Hulu on my PS4, but I am logged out of PSN and unable to access updates or other services. This issue is also highlighting other PSN dependencies I wouldn’t normally consider. Day one updates and DRM checks introduce extra difficulties when trying to game offline, even if you still purchase physical media. User @graham_brn on Twitter has demonstrated how the PS5 Pro’s sold-separately disc drive requires a PSN connection for first time setup with the console, potentially locking you out of your physical library entirely should the drive somehow unpair or need to be replaced.
Sony is understandably in crisis mode at the moment, and this outage has fallen on the weekend to boot, but the company’s lack of communication definitely isn’t helping the environment of panic, confusion, and misinformation among PlayStation customers. We’ll know more as Sony works to resolve the issue and finally provide an explanation, but my mind immediately goes to the 23-day PlayStation Network hack and outage back in 2011. Here’s hoping this current crisis isn’t anywhere near as severe as that legendary cybersecurity boondoggle.
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