PSN outage ends: PlayStation Network recovers from major issues

PSN multiplayer servers are currently down

Multiple users have reported that the PlayStation Network otherwise known as PSN is currently down. However, it seems to just be affecting the online multiplayer portion of Sony's services, as we haven't encountered any problems when signing in or accessing digital content. 

More reports of PSN being down

Is The Service Down is also reporting a high number of PlayStation Network outages right now. At the time of writing, 64% of reported issues are of sign-in issues, while 28% have reported issues with online play.

PS Plus glitch

A glitch in the recent PlayStation software update may be the cause of the issues, with the glitch asking players to sign up for PS Plus to play online multiplayer games, even if they already have a subscription. 

We're not getting in

We've just tried logging into a few multiplayer games on PS5 and found that Dead By Daylight, Destiny 2 and FIFA 22 online play isn't working. However, Apex Legends and Fortnite (which don't require PS Plus) are working. It appears the issue is only affecting games that require PS Plus.

PlayStation Network Service Status reflects issues

The PlayStation Network Service Status is now showing issues with gaming and social, PlayStation Now and PlayStation Store.

According to the site, there are currently issues with game streaming on PS Vita, PS3, PS4, PS5 and more, which may result in "difficulty launching games, apps, or network features". PlayStation Now is also affected on PS Vita, PS3, PS4, PS5 and more, which means you "might have difficulty streaming PlayStation Now games". 

The PlayStation Store appears to be having the most issues, though, with purchases, downloads, browsing, searching and redeeming vouchers all affected. "You might have difficulty getting products on the PlayStation Store," the website says.

For each of these issues, Sony has said it's "working to resolve the issue as soon as possible". 

An incidental issue?

It's possible PlayStation Network being down may have been caused by an incidental issue outside not directly related to the recent update, as we tried playing online multiplayer without installing the recent PS5 update and still had issues with online play.

Vote in our Twitter poll

Is PlayStation Network down for you? Let us know in our Twitter poll.

Ubisoft acknowledges outage

Ubisoft has acknowledged the issues with the PlayStation Network and has said that it is "currently under investigation".

PlayStation Store downloads aren't working

We've tried downloading GTA Online from the PlayStation Store and got an error. We're still able to play online games that don't require PS Plus but not games that do require it. 

PS Plus single-player games still accessible

We're tried accessing single-player PS Plus free games and modes that we have previously installed and aren't finding issues with these games. However, PS Plus games that require PS Plus to play online still aren't working right now.

AskPlayStationUK responds to Twitter complaints

AskPlayStationUK has replied on Twitter to several players experiencing issues, saying "We are aware some players are experiencing issues with PlayStation Plus functionality, we are investigating this immediately".

Issue is widespread

We're still seeing plenty of PS4 and PS5 players reporting issues on Twitter, while the PSN server status still says "some services are experiencing issues". We're seeing players in the UK, US, Europe, Australia and Japan being affected.

Bethesda acknowledges outage

Bethesda has also acknowledged the PlayStation Network outage. In response to a Twitter user asking why Fallout 76 isn't working, Bethesda support stated that "PlayStation Network is experiencing a service interruption at the moment".

PlayStation Japan addresses outage

The official PlayStation Japan Twitter account has acknowledged the outage, saying  PSN (including the PlayStation Store) "may not be available at this time" but that it is "conducting an investigation and restoration work".

Don't extend your PS Plus right now

If you've previously bought PlayStation Plus and are being told it's expired (or about to expire) when you know you've still got time left, don't extend it now. Some PS Plus subscribers are reporting issues with this and it's likely your PS Plus will be reinstated once Sony fixes its PSN issues.

Team 17 acknowledges issues

Team 17 has acknowledged the PlayStation Network outage. Like Ubisoft and Bethesda, the publisher has pointed players towards the PSN Server Status site.

Some PlayStation games affected by the outage

Here are some of the PlayStation games we know are being affected by the current PSN outage:

• Dead by Daylight
• FIFA 22
• Destiny 2
• Call of Duty: Vanguard
• Elden Ring
• Final Fantasy 14 Online
• Fallout 76
• Hell Let Loose
• GTA Online
• Overwatch
• Red Dead Online

Not acknowledging issues on Twitter

The AskPlayStation Twitter account is now responding to questions from players, but rather than acknowledging issues the account is asking those with PS Plus issues whether they're using the same account where they made the purchase (and directing them to their restore licenses guide) and asking those who can't access online games whether they are seeing specific error codes. 

It's odd, considering the PlayStation Network Server Status acknowledges issues with PSN and online play.

PlayStation Now still down but other services are back

According to Sony's status checker, most of its services are now back online, with only PlayStation Now showing up as still affected.

The report says that "You might have difficulty streaming PlayStation Now games" and that Sony is "working to resolve the issue as soon as possible." That was last updated at 13:41 GMT. So it's been impacted for nearly 3 hours at this point, a significant outage.

Meanwhile, over on Twitter, players are still reporting that they are unable to play their games. 

Meanwhile, Sony's official Ask PlayStation Twitter account still isn't acknowledging the fault in a direct tweet, only in replies to people complaining.

Back in business

We just checked the PlayStation Store and were able to download a game from it, so that appears (as per PlayStation's server status update) to be working again. We've also found online multiplayer games appear to be up and running again, at least for us.

Currently, PlayStation Now seems to be the only service still affected.

Guess not! The PlayStation service is back up, but official PlayStation social media accounts have yet to acknowledge that there even was an issue. Problems? What problems? The Ask PlayStation Twitter feed ("Official PlayStation Support for English, Spanish, and Portuguese for the Americas") hasn't updated in 17 hours, for example, and the Facebook page is similarly chipper and upbeat. Sigh. So much for transparency.

[PSN ™ Disaster Recovery Information] This failure has been recovered. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused to our customers.