PS5 Online multiplayer and other PSN functions are currently down
The PlayStation Network is suffering what appears to be a massive outage heading into the weekend. PlayStation 5 and PS4 Players across social media, including X and Reddit, are reporting being unable to connect to Sony’s online services, including multiplayer matches and the PlayStation Store.
“At this time, the PlayStation Network (including PlayStation Store) may not be available,” reads an announcement made by the Ask PlayStation Japan account on X at 7:12 p.m. ET on February 7. “We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused to our customers. We are currently investigating the issue and working to restore service, so please be patient.” It’s an especially unfortunate time for the network to go down with the last free Monster Hunter Wilds beta test weekend currently underway.
There’s no information yet on what the cause of the outage is, how many people are affected, or when the service might come back online. While some service disruptions can last for just a few hours, others could go on for much longer, with spotty connection quality even as the network comes back online. The PlayStation status page currently lists all online services as being down.
And so far this certainly seems to be one of the bigger outages PSN has suffered of late. Players started reporting getting disconnected shortly after 6:00 p.m. ET and so far there’s no sign of anyone being able to get back on. The outage also appears to be worldwide, rather than being isolated to certain countries or continents.
The nightmare scenario for Sony would be a malicious hack or some deeper problem that causes the outage to persist for days or even weeks. That’s been unheard of in the modern era, but that’s what happened back in the infamous 2011 PlayStation Network outage. So far at least, there’s no sign that something on that scale is happening again. Hopefully, the system comes back online shortly. I, for one, was supposed to be spending tonight with my buds in Rocket League.
