PlayStation Network Hit by Global Outage

The PlayStation Network (PSN) is currently experiencing a global outage, according to the web monitoring platform Downdetector.

According to the Playstation Network service page, PSN users may have issues signing in or creating an account on the PlayStation Network, as well as when opening games and apps or using the PlayStation store. 

PSN users started to report issues on the network around 6 p.m. EST on Friday, Feb. 7. Over 71,000 users have complained so far, according to Downdetector. Sony has yet to provide an official explanation for the disruption, but it acknowledged the issue in a post on X, stating that it is “aware some users might be currently experiencing issues with PSN.”

The impact of the outage appears to be felt far outside of the US, with posts showing that users as far afield as Brazil and Japan have been impacted.

Many users are rushing to social media to voice their complaints, with one Reddit thread picking up over 10,000 comments, mostly complaints from unhappy gamers.

Hopefully, this weekend’s disruption won’t last as long as PSN’s longest-ever outage back in 2011, which took almost 23 days to restore. Sony attributed the downtime to a cyberattack, which led to details of almost 77 million gamers being revealed, including things like physical addresses and credit card information. It resulted in $171 million in costs for Sony, which was forced to hand out perks and pay fines from regulators all over the world.

The news comes as users no longer need to pay for a PS5 to enjoy using the PlayStation network and its catalog of titles. In November, Sony added support for cloud gaming to its handheld PlayStation Portal, meaning users could access over 120 PS5 titles, such as Ghost of Tsushima and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, with nothing but a connection to PSN and the device.

(Disclosure: Downdetector owner Ookla is owned by PCMag parent company Ziff Davis.)

About Will McCurdy

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I’m a reporter covering weekend news. Before joining PCMag in 2024, I picked up bylines in BBC News, The Guardian, The Times of London, The Daily Beast, Vice, Slate, Fast Company, The Evening Standard, The i, TechRadar, and Decrypt Media.

I’ve been a PC gamer since you had to install games from multiple CD-ROMs by hand. As a reporter, I’m passionate about the intersection of tech and human lives. I’ve covered everything from crypto scandals to the art world, as well as conspiracy theories, UK politics, and Russia and foreign affairs.

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