PlayStation Network services restored after hours-long outage: ‘Sorry for the inconvenience’

Good news for all the gamers out there. PlayStation Network services have been restored, the company says, after an hours-long network outage Saturday left users offline and frustrated.
“Network services are fully recovered from an operational issue. We are sorry for the inconvenience and appreciate the community’s patience. All PlayStation Plus members will automatically receive an additional 5 days of service,” a Sony Interactive Entertainment representative said in a statement Sunday to USA TODAY.
PlayStation Network services were restored by Saturday evening, the company said in an update.
The company did not state why services had been disrupted and apologized to users “for the inconvenience.”
On Friday night, the PlayStation Network, which connects friends to play games online on Sony PlayStation game systems, was hit with an outage and remained offline for many users through most of Saturday.
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“We are aware some users might be currently experiencing issues with PSN,” the network had posted around 8 p.m. ET Friday on X, the social network previously known as Twitter. It directed readers to the network’s status page, which on Saturday said, “Some services are experiencing issues.
“You might have difficulty launching games, apps, or network features. We’re working to resolve the issue as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience,” the page said. Users might also be unable to buy products on the PlayStation Store or watch PlayStation Video content, the page said.
The network’s status page now reads, “All services are up and running.”
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‘Thanks for ruining this’
A few commenters said they had been able to connect to PSN on Saturday morning, but most on X and Reddit said they were still offline. Players from the United States as well as players from other parts of the world, including Australia and the United Kingdom, reported not being able to connect to PSN. Many players ready for a weekend of online games were disappointed. “Friday night is my game night with a couple buddies thanks for ruining this,” one person posted on X.
Since many video games now require online connections – and some consoles don’t play games on discs – players often couldn’t play games solo, either. “I can’t play any offline games I own cuz my PS5 can’t verify I own it,” said another.
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According to CEO, saying “please” and “thank you” to ChatGPT costs millions of dollars. Krispy Kreme free doughnut giveaway to soften PlayStation Network outage
Krispy Kreme took the opportunity to treat gamers with free doughnuts by giving away free Original Glazed doughnuts from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday evening nationwide.
The giveaway is a “sweet relief for gamers who have been forced offline” during the outage, the company said in a statement to USA TODAY.
Discover everything you need to know about ‘Apple Invites,’ the brand-new Apple app. PlayStation Network outage: ‘I have nothing to do with this!’
On X – where PlayStation was the No. 2 trending topic – some users commented they had gotten messages that the network was undergoing maintenance. Players from the U.S. and other regions across the globe, including the U.K. and Australia, posted on X and Reddit that they were unable to connect to the PlayStation network.
“Well it’s the morning and my kids think I rigged the Playstation not to work because they are only allowed to play on weekends now it’s the weekend I told them I have nothing to do with this!” posted one commenter on X.
For many players, the outage brought back memories of a PlayStation Network outage in 2011. After hackers compromised the service, exposing personal data and credit card information from 77 million accounts, Sony shut down the network for more than a month. As of early Saturday, Down Detector, which monitors network outages, claimed to have received over 640,000 reports. By around 7 p.m. on Saturday ET, Down Detector said on X “after over 24 hours and nearly 1 million total reports, #PlayStation users are finally starting to report access to #PSN servers.”
This story was updated to add new information.
Follow Mike Snider on Threads, Bluesky and X: mikegsnider &@mikegsnider.bsky.social &@mikesnider.