What to do when the PlayStation Network is down

Publish date: 2023-03-02

Best answer: Other than waiting for Sony engineers to fix any lingering PSN problems, you can always try going offline to play your games or resetting your router to see if that fixes the issue.

How do I know when the PlayStation Network is down?

Sony has a website dedicated to the service status of PSN. If all services are up and running, you should be good to go. Sometimes only a specific service — like accessing your games and social — will be down. This may not be updated right away, so it's also smart to check the PlayStation subreddit to see if anyone else is reporting issues. If the service is down for everyone, you'll hear about it on social media.

Alternatively, you'll know when you try to log in to your account and suddenly can't connect to anything or play any games.

How long will it be down?

Each outage is different, and there is no way to predict how long the network will be down. Usually, an outage will only last a few minutes to a few hours at most. However, in extreme cases, like during a DDOS attack or around the holidays when everyone is flooding the network, it could take a few days before PSN is working properly.

Is my account at risk when PSN is down?

Generally, no. Your account should not be at risk because the network is down. However, there are cases where hackers have gotten a hold of personal information through PSN in the past.

What are common error codes when PSN is down?

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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