This is a helpful PSA from us to let you know that PSN is currently down.
According to Downdetector, PSN has been suffering from an outage since at least 3pm PST/6pm EST. The PlayStation Network Service page also shows that all services, from sing-in to gaming to the PlayStation Store are all down.
It’s unclear when services will resume for PSN, but the outage means that this weekend begins without access to some of your favorite games including Marvel Rivals, Call of Duty, Fortnite, and more.
We’ll have an update for when services resume. In the meantime, no other platforms are reporting outages so it appears specific to PSN.
Sony has had to officially remove Helldivers 2’s PlayStation Network connection requirement due to a wave of protests from gamers.
Last weekend, the game Helldivers 2 received a wave of fierce criticism from the gaming community due to a wrong decision from publisher Sony PlayStation.
Specifically, the company forced Helldivers 2 PC players to link their Steam accounts to PSN (PlayStation Network). This caused gamers in nearly 177 countries and territories, including Vietnam, to lose access to the game due to lack of PSN support.
On May 6, Sony PlayStation officially announced that they had received feedback from gamers. Accordingly, the update of Helldivers 2 that required linking Steam to PSN will be canceled, PC gamers can play the game without linking to an external account.
“Helldivers fans – we’ve heard your feedback regarding the Helldivers 2 account linking update. The May 6 update that required linking Steam and PlayStation Network accounts will no longer be going forward,” the company said on X.
After Sony’s announcement that players would be required to link their Steam and PSN accounts, Helldivers 2 has received a lot of criticism from players. In less than 24 hours, the game received more than 63,000 negative reviews on the Steam platform.
According to SteamDB, the game was removed from all countries without PSN access, a total of more than 177 countries and territories, leading to an apology from Arrowhead CEO Johan Pilestedt (developer of Helldivers 2).
Earlier this year, Sony President Hiroki Totoki promised to close the gap between PlayStation 5 and PC releases in an effort to increase profit margins. Helldivers 2 is the first example of Sony doing just that, releasing on both PSN and PC on the same day, February 8.
Helldivers 2 was supposed to require a PSN connection from launch, but Sony delayed the plan due to network constraints. Other multiplayer titles including Ghost of Tsushima were also said to require a PSN account, but it’s unclear whether Sony will back down on this decision given the pressure from the gaming community.