Are PlayStation Name Changes Coming Soon?

PS4 PlayStation 4

No person under the age of 21 should be allowed to make any decisions of their own when it comes to choosing on online handles. It only ends in tears when years later the shame sinks in and there’s no way to change it. You’re reminded of your youthful awfulness each time you look at it, as well as the fact that you are slipping inexorably towards death.

That could be all about to change, at least for long suffering PlayStation gamers. Since the inception of PlayStation Network, the infrastructure that allows those on PlayStation platforms to go online with their games, it’s been a one-and-done deal in terms of choosing your handle. The PlayStation ID you signed up with was yours for, well, ever.

Kotaku reports that anonymous sources within the industry have told them that Sony has been sending correspondence to studios and developers to accommodate the possibility of PlayStation name changes. The same report mentions that it’s no easy undertaking, which seems to be the main reason why Sony have taken so long to enact such a seemingly simple switch.

As this has yet to be properly announced, don’t get your hopes up too high just yet, though the fact that multiple sources seem to corroborate the same thing is comforting. There’s no clear idea on when the PlayStation name changes will be enacted, but Shawn Layden at last year’s PSX said that he hoped he would no longer have to be asked about them at the same event in 2018. While PSX isn’t going ahead this year, signs suggest that we may actually see something before the end of 2018 — Sony love Paris Games Week, so that might be a best guess.

It’ll be a bittersweet goodbye for my old PSN ID once/if name changes are confirmed. While I don’t hate it, it doesn’t really reflect who I am anymore — anyone who saw it may actually mistakenly think that I am cool. It’ll be interesting to see whether or not Sony will make it free of charge, also.

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