Why is PSN down on PS5 and PS4? Possibilities explored
PSN (PlayStation Network) seems to be down today (October 1, 2024) on all consoles that can connect to the internet. This includes the PS5, PS4, PS3, PS Vita, and the Web. Online servers won't load, and certain games and apps aren't working either. This comes hours after the latest patch introduced a screen artwork bug on the PlayStation 5.
While the Japanese game console maker has acknowledged the issue on social media handles, it hasn't commented on when gamers can enjoy online services again. That said, the community will definitely wonder what went wrong at Sony HQ.
Possible reasons for the Sony PSN network being down
Over the weekend, the latest PS5 software update patch introduced weird bugs into the home screen. The artwork for several games was riddled with adverts and news posts. Sony patched the issue hours before the entire PlayStation Network stopped working.
While there's no reason to believe these issues have a direct correlation, it sure is a rough start to the week for the PlayStation maker. A quick look at the status page reveals all three key PSN services are facing outages. This includes Account Management, Gaming and Social, and PlayStation Store.
Some gamers are facing error codes such as "WS-116522-7" while a few others are getting messages like "Services are busy right now." While we won't know what exactly caused the issue with PSN unless Sony confirms it, here's what we speculate:
- A server overload could have caught Sony services off-guard. This could've been caused by some servers going down in key regions.
- Sony might be performing network maintenance to fix any issues or implement updates. This should've been announced earlier, but some pressing matters might require immediate action.
- A glitch in the PSN software might cause the issue as well.
- Another possibility could be DDoS attacks. While we don't believe Sony's servers were hacked into, a DDoS attack on a large scale could take the network down.
Players can still play PS5 games offline by disconnecting from the network. However, do note that any game that requires an internet connection (including some single-player ones) is out of reach. Down Detector still shows thousands of users reporting the outage, and waiting it out seems to be the best strategy for online gaming fans right now.