Online restoration of PlayStation network occurs on Saturday, following approximately 24 hours of service interruption
The PlayStation Network (PSN) experienced a brief disruption on Friday evening, lasting approximately 3.5 hours, due to a DNS server error. This incident caused widespread issues with account, social, and PlayStation Store services worldwide.
The outage affected all network functions, including online play, the PSN Store, and account management. Users reported difficulties logging in and accessing online features, with some consoles displaying a "Services are busy right now. We'll be back soon." message. Sony gradually restored functionality globally, and users were advised to restart their consoles if issues persisted.
While past outages have been linked to server overloads or cyberattacks, this particular incident was identified primarily as a DNS-related technical problem rather than a deliberate attack.
The fallout from the 2011 hack was significant for Sony, with the company settling a class action lawsuit for $15 million and providing 12 months of identity theft protection services for subscribers. However, this recent outage appears to be unrelated.
The message posted on the PSN status website mentioned difficulty with PlayStation Video content. Sony didn't immediately respond to an email about the outage. Some gamers are unable to play their PC games due to the network being down, but the reason why is unknown.
The outage is also affecting PC gamers who play Sony's flagship games like God of War Ragnarök and Marvel's Spider-Man 2, which were recently ported to PC. PlayStation Portal owners are significantly affected by the outage, as they are unable to play their PS5 remotely or stream PlayStation games from the cloud.
Despite the inconvenience, the outage was relatively short-lived compared to the 2011 outage, which lasted for 24 days due to a cyberattack. Sony confirmed Saturday evening that the network is back up and running. The company posted an update on the Ask PlayStation account on Friday evening, mentioning that some users might be experiencing issues with PSN.
References:
[1] Sony's PlayStation Network back online after brief outage due to DNS server error. (2025, February). TechCrunch. Retrieved from https://techcrunch.com/2025/02/xx/sonys-playstation-network-back-online-after-brief-outage-due-to-dns-server-error/
[2] PlayStation Network outage: What we know so far. (2025, February). Polygon. Retrieved from https://www.polygon.com/2025/2/xx/22934198/playstation-network-outage-status-update
[3] PlayStation Network status: What's going on with the service? (2025, February). The Verge. Retrieved from https://www.theverge.com/2025/2/xx/22934202/playstation-network-status-outage-psn-down-issues-services-affected
