Sony Playstation Network Is Back Online But What Just Happened
Millions of Sony PlayStation fans were greeted with error codes that prevented them from accessing online features. So what just happened?
It turns out, the Sony PlayStation Network temporarily went offline, though the servers are now back up, reports GameRadar. PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 users got the error code WS-373989-0 whenever they tried cross-platform online play for over an hour.
Problems started surfacing around 5 PM EDT, when users began complaining about connectivity problems on social media, reports GFinityEsports. A big majority of the reports involved the said WS-373989-0 error code, which players can do nothing about as the code meant it was an issue directly on Sony’s end.
During the outage, gamers were unable to access pages such as account management, PlayStation Now, gaming and social, PlayStation Store, PlayStation Direct, and even PlayStation Video. This also made launching games and apps a lot more difficult than they’re supposed to, which meant that many PS4 and PS5 gamers were unable to play.
And it seemed like the problem was global, too, as the official Twitter account of Ask PlayStation reported it. Various users all around Europe also claimed to have the same problems.
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How Playstation Network Works
In late 2002, the world of console video games changed forever when Sony and Microsoft launched networks for online gaming on their PlayStation 2 and Xbox platforms. These weren’t the first consoles to connect to the Internet: Sega’s Dreamcast included a built-in dial-up modem three years before, and even before the Internet existed, Nintendo was serving up downloadable content to its Japanese Super Famicom system in 1995 via a satellite modem called the Satellaview .
Microsoft had built up buzz for its Xbox Live service since their console launched in 2001. The Xbox’s Ethernet port was ready and waiting for a broadband connection, and Xbox Live’s yearly subscription fee bought gamers an exclusive Gamertag and friends list they could access in any Live-enabled game. Xbox Live was Microsoft’s big push into the game console business Microsoft had a well-developed plan for the integration of their console and their online presence. Sony wasn’t quite so organized with its networked entertainment offering. In early 2002 the company casually announced a strategy to launch its network adapter in the fall, right around the same time as Xbox Live. Sony’s approach had its own advantages and disadvantages: There would be no subscription fee like Xbox Live, but also no unifying infrastructure. All this background is important, because it closely resembles the exact same scenario Microsoft and Sony were in when they launched their follow-up consoles, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Playstation Network Online Services On Ps4 And Ps5 Are Down
PSN currently not working for store, gaming or account management
Andy Robinson
The PlayStation Network is currently down on both PS4 and PS5.
According to Sonys official network status page, online services are offline for account management, gaming and social, PlayStation Now, PlayStation Video and the PlayStation Store.
UPDATE: Servers are reportedly now coming back online.
ORIGINAL STORY CONTINUES: At the time of publishing, the issues appear to be affecting PlayStation users in North America, the UK and Asia. According to Down Detector, users have been experiencing issues with PSN for several hours.
According to the same site, users have reported PSN outages twice before this month, on August 10 and August 4, as well as July 28.
PlayStation is yet to acknowledge the downtime on any of its social media accounts, but well update this story when it does. Currently, its network site says, some services are experiencing issues.
Sony recently closed store functionality on the PSP, but games will still be available to buy. Starting July 2, PSP owners are no longer able to access the PlayStation store and make purchases, nor can they access any in-game stores to buy DLC.
However, while it was previously thought that this would mean a number of games including some 35 PSP exclusives would effectively be wiped from existence, Sony has recently updated its official information to confirm the games will still exist on other stores.
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Check Again Soon For Updates
Update: PlayStation Network and online services are back up according to Sony’s status page. Resume your games.
Original Story: PlayStation is currently experiencing outages across all platforms and it’s affecting online gaming, video services, and the PlayStation Store.
According to the official PlayStation Status tracker and IGN sister site Down Detector, PlayStation’s online services are currently down and there’s no word on when they will resume.
So far PlayStation’s public social accounts have not addressed the outage nor provided an estimated time for a fix. So if you’re trying to play something on your PlayStation system you may want to keep checking back.
IGN will update this story when there are updates regarding the outage so consider this a friendly PSA.
Matt T.M. Kim is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach him .
Was this article informative?
Is There Anything I Can Do And How Do I Fix This
If the entire PlayStation Network is down, there isn’t much you can do. You can try going offline to access your games that way, but that may not work in every case and it certainly won’t allow you to play multiplayer. Also, to play your digital games offline, the console you are using must be set as the primary system tied to your account.
The problem isn’t always PSN, though it may be your internet. If this is the case, try resetting your router and reconnecting your system to your Wi-Fi network. You can perform an internet connection test by going to Settings> Network> Test Internet Connection on your console. If that doesn’t cut it, you may also want to consider connecting your PS4 or PS5 to the internet with an Ethernet cable.
Troubleshooting online connection problems on PS5 usually doesn’t take too long. And if it doesn’t work, you’ll know that the problem is on Sony’s end.
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Playstation Plus And Playstation Home
Sony spent years after the release of the PlayStation 3 properly integrating PSN into the console experience. It was a necessary move to compete with Xbox Live, but Microsoft had an advantage: It was making $50 per year from each of its millions of subscribers. Sony’s free PlayStation Network generated no such profits. Sony finally decided to change that by introducing PlayStation Plus, a subscription service for PSN users that costs $50 per year or $18 for three months . Microsoft sells subscriptions to Xbox Live because it’s required to play games online. Since gaming is still free on PSN, what does a PlayStation Plus membership offer?
PlayStation Home has one thing in common with PlayStation Plus: It’s designed to make money. Home is Sony’s version of “Second Life,” a virtual environment for PSN users to hang out in as digital avatars. Socialization and customization form the linchpins of PlayStation Home — gamers can deck out their avatars in virtual gear, customize their home inside Home with items unlocked from beating games or purchased from shops inside one of Home’s public “Spaces” or locations. That’s the driving force behind Home. The items purchased may be virtual, but the commerce itself is very real.
Issues With The Playstation Network
PSN has suffered from several high profile network outages over the years including those caused by malicious attacks. Users can check the networks status online by visiting .
Some have expressed disappointment with Sonys decision to make Plus membership a requirement for online gaming with PS4 when that feature was free for PS3 users before. Some have similarly criticized the quality of free games Sony has supplied to Plus subscribers on the monthly update cycle since PS4 was introduced.
As with other Internet-based game networks, intermittent connectivity challenges can affect PSN users including temporary inability to sign on, difficulty in finding other plays in online game lobbies, and network lag.
The PSN Stores is not available to people residing in some countries.
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Update: Psn Back Online
After going offline for a few hours, Sony’s online service is now functional again, according to the PlayStation support page.
Just a few days after it was taken down for routine maintenance, the PlayStation Network is again offline, this time due to some unspecified problems.
The PSN status page on PlayStation’s support website currently says the service is offline. It also offers a pretty standard, detail-light message to fans. “PSN is currently offline, and we are hard at work to resume service,” it states. “At this time an estimate as to when PSN will be online is unavailable however, we will update this article as soon as there’s additional information. If you would like to receive a notice when PSN is fully restored, be sure to follow the official PlayStation Twitter account and our support Twitter account, @AskPlayStation.”
That Twitter support account sent out a this afternoon informing users of the issues, and it, too, offered very little in the way of specifics: “We’re aware some of you are unable to connect to the PSN. Thanks for your patience as we investigate.”
Thanks again for your patience as we continue to investigate the current PSN issues.
Ask PlayStation
PSN was offline earlier this month in both North America and Europe. This followed downtime in August, which a group of hackers took credit for along with attacks on servers for Battle.net, League of Legends, and other games.
Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email
What Happens To Online Saves After Playstation Plus Expiration
One of the benefits on using PlayStation Plus is online saving of your savegames.I don’t plan prolonging my registration to the service.
But what will then happen to my save games once I’m no more a Plus user? Will I still be able to access the ones which are online, not being able to upload new ones or will they just be lost forever?
- I seem to remember that online saves will be kept for a certain amount of time, then after that the data cannot be guaranteed. If you sign up for membership again you will be able to access this data But another way to look at it, if you don’t plan on using the services once it expires, how useful will 30 days of online storage actually be to you? RigasMay 21 ’11 at 23:12
According to this press release, you will no longer be able to access your cloud saves if your Playstation Plus membership expires. However, your data will remain on Sony’s servers for six months, and you can access them again as long as you resubscribe within that time period.
But, if your PS3 dies six months after you backed up your saved games, you’ve just lost 6 months of gaming! The way I see it, if you’re going to back up your saved games at all, you should go the whole way and pay for PSN+ membership.
And you should anyway, since the cloud service is the only way you can backup your copy-protected saved games.
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Sony Online Entertainment Outage
On May 3 Sony stated in a press release that there may be a correlation between the attack that had occurred on April 16 towards the PlayStation Network and one that compromised Sony Online Entertainment on May 2. This portion of the attack resulted in the theft of information on 24.6 million Sony Online Entertainment account holders. The database contained 12,700 credit card numbers, particularly those of non-U.S. residents, and had not been in use since 2007 as much of the data applied to expired cards and deleted accounts. Sony updated this information the following day by stating that only 900 cards on the database were still valid. The attack resulted in the suspension of SOE servers and games. SOE granted 30 days of free time, plus one day for each day the server was down, to users of Clone Wars Adventures, DC Universe Online, EverQuest, EverQuest II, EverQuest Online Adventures, Free Realms, Pirates of the Burning Sea, PlanetSide, Poxnora, Star Wars Galaxies and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, as well as other forms of compensation for all other Sony Online games.
Security experts Eugene Lapidous of AnchorFree, Chester Wisniewski of Sophos Canada and Avner Levin of Ryerson University criticized Sony, questioning its methods of securing user data. Lapidous called the breach “difficult to excuse” and Wisniewski called it “an act of hubris or simply gross incompetence”.
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Interestingly, there’s no word of an outage or any scheduled maintenance on the PSN status page.
According to Sony, all services are up and running as usual, including PS Now, Account Management and Gaming.
The lack of any communication likely means the issue is in hand, and that PSN won’t be down for long.
Of course, Express Online will continue to monitor the situation as the story develops.
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Playstation Network Back Online Almost
The PlayStation Network will be back online by the end of the week, Sony reps say. PSN has remained shuttered for almost two weeks.
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May 3, 2011
It has not been a very good couple of weeks for users of the PlayStation Network, the popular online gaming portal maintained by Sony. Sometime in later April, hackers managed to worm their way into the PSN and Qriocity, a Sony-owned music and video streaming service. To prevent further damage and to stem the loss of valuable user information Sony shuttered PSN, Sony reps acknowledged in a press conference on Thursday.
So when is the Sony PlayStation Network coming back online? This week, probably. At the same press conference, which was held at Sony HQ in Tokyo, Sony exec Kazuo Hirai apologized to gamers, and promised that the PSN would be live again by Friday. When the network does return, Hirai added, according to eWeek, it will return stronger and safer than ever.
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In a press release published on the PlayStation blog, Patrick Seybold, a Sony rep, announced the PlayStation 3 would get a “forced system software update,” which would “require all registered PlayStation Network users to change their account passwords before being able to sign into the service. As an added layer of security, that password can only be changed on the same PS3 in which that account was activated, or through validated email confirmation.”
Psn Error Codes Currently Caused By Psn Downtime
Some of the PSN error codes being flagged up include:
- NP- 39225-1
- NP-39232-9
- CE-34861-2
All we can suggest if you still can’t get online, or you have other PS4 problems is to either contact PlayStation Support, or give Ask PlayStation a tweet on Twitter. After a PSN outage of this site, its not unusual for some player to still be experiencing problems, but its frustrating nevertheless!
If you do get back online, then you should check out the new games this week in the PlayStation Store update, and keep an eye out right here for the PS Plus February 2018 games drop.
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Playstation Plus And Playstation Now
Plus is an extension of PSN that offers more games and service to those paying the additional subscription fee. Benefits include:
- Access to online multiplayer games on PS4.
- Access to online versions of selected full games .
- Discount pricing on PlayStation Store items.
The PS Now service streams online games from the cloud. Following its initial public announcement at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show, the service was rolled out to different markets during 2014 and 2015.
Psn Back Online After Being Hit With Account Social And Playstation Store Issues
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Update :Phew, it looks like the PSN is finally back on its feet after around three and a half hours of issues. Let’s hope that it’s smooth sailing from here.
Update : It’s been over two hours since the PSN started falling apart, and PlayStation is yet to acknowledge the situation on social media. No updates have been given at the time of writing, and the network’s issues are ongoing.
Original Story: The PlayStation Network is currently experiencing issues across all of its services, with users unable to access account settings, social elements, the PlayStation Store, and, in some cases, online gaming.
Account management being down also means that some users may not be able to play their digital games. The only way to ensure that you digital library is playable offline is to set your console as ‘primary’ on PS4, or, on PS5, enable ‘console sharing and offline play’.
Hopefully this is just a blip, and Sony will have it sorted soon. We’ll update this article if we hear anything more.
In the meantime, give us a status report in the comments section below.
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Playstation Services Will Be Back Soon Error Ws
PlayStation error code WS-116449-5 appears when the PlayStation Network services are experiencing interruptions. Thats why the error says services will be back soon after some maintenance. The error code will be resolved as soon as the PlayStation servers are restored to normal operations.
Thankfully, this is one of several error codes weve encountered with a description thats actually helpful. WS-116449-5 specifically states that PlayStation Network service is undergoing maintenance. Perhaps a new firmware is being installed, or a new patch is being deployed. It could even be an unexpected outage. Either way, theres nothing you need to do except wait until service is restored.
Of course, it is possible for this error code to appear outside of server maintenance. Its rare, but its possible. To make sure the problem is on your end and not the networks, be sure to drop by the official PlayStation server status page. If WS-116449-5 appears while services are experiencing issues, theres no cause for concern. You may also encounter error code WS-37505-0. But if it shows up when all services are online and functional, you may have a problem with your local network connection.
- PC / PS4 / PS5 / Xbox One / Xbox Series X02-04-2022