For many, some weekend online video games were over before they started.
The PlayStation Network, which connects friends to play games online on Sony PlayStation game systems, was hit with an outage Friday night and remained offline for many users at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday.
“We are aware some users might be currently experiencing issues with PSN,” the network posted about 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.
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 U.S. and other regions across the globe, including the U.K. and Australia, said they were unable 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.
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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.
USA TODAY reached out to Sony PlayStation on Saturday about the network outage, but has not gotten a response.
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. this 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.
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PlayStation Network outage: ‘I have nothing to do with this!’
Also on X – where PlayStation was the No. 2 trending topic – some users posted in the comments thread that 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.
“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. Sony kept the network down for over a month after hackers compromised the service, exposing the personal data and credit card information from 77 million accounts.
Down Detector, which tracks network outages, said it had gotten more than 640,000 reports as of early Saturday.
Follow Mike Snider on Threads, Bluesky and X: mikegsnider &@mikegsnider.bsky.social &@mikesnider.
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