The PlayStation Network (PSN) has been experiencing a widespread outage since late Friday night, leaving thousands of gamers unable to access online multiplayer features and, in some cases, even their offline single-player games.
According to Sony’s official PSN status page, the outage has impacted key services, including account management, online gaming, PlayStation Store access, and license verification. Popular titles such as Fortnite, Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, and Marvel Rivals have been affected, frustrating players worldwide.
Gamers Report Issues as Outage Drags On
Sony acknowledged the disruption on its support webpage, stating that it is aware of the issue and working to resolve it as soon as possible. However, as the outage stretched beyond 12 hours, frustration mounted among players.
According to DownDetector, reports of issues began surfacing just before midnight on Friday, with more than 71,000 users flagging the problem within hours. Social media platforms have since been flooded with complaints from players unable to log in or access their purchased content.
Jeff Thigpen, a 48-year-old gamer from Dallas, Texas, said he had been locked out of his PlayStation account for over 10 hours.
“At my job, I have an hourly rotation, and during my break, I’ll occasionally get on my PlayStation Portal,” he told the BBC, referring to Sony’s handheld streaming device.
“Tonight, I tried and was unable to play any of the games I purchased. Paying a monthly fee for their service is one thing, but not being able to play games we’ve bought is beyond frustrating.”
Bad Timing for PlayStation Players
The timing of the outage has added to the frustration, occurring during a highly anticipated gaming weekend.
“This is doubly frustrating because it’s an eventful weekend for the game-sphere,” said Connor Clarke, head of the Sheffield Games Collective.
Clarke pointed out that Monster Hunter Wilds is offering a free beta, while Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is running a double XP event—two key moments for gamers eager to play.
“I imagine there are thousands, if not millions, of gamers worldwide who are quite frustrated that they are unable to play at the moment,” he added.
While temporary outages on PlayStation Network are not uncommon, Clarke noted that they typically last only a few hours.
“This one has been over 12 hours,” he said. “I’m unable to play multiplayer, and more frustratingly, I can’t even play my downloaded single-player games because PlayStation says it is unable to verify my licenses.”
Sony Yet to Provide Updates
As of Saturday morning, Sony had not provided an estimated timeframe for resolving the issue.
BBC News has reached out to PlayStation and Call of Duty developer Activision Blizzard for comment.
For now, gamers are left waiting, hoping for a quick resolution to one of the longest PSN outages in recent memory.
