Home Gaming Upcoming PSN Online ID Change Feature Could Lose Your Saves and Purchases

Upcoming PSN Online ID Change Feature Could Lose Your Saves and Purchases

2 min read
29

PS

Look, we’ve all done it. We’ve all used some or other regrettable, embarrassing online name we used when we had the maturity of a may fly. We all have some digital moniker that we’d rather forget. Unfortunately, for many, Sony doesn’t allow that. The PSN name that people used a decade ago is now firmly baked into the PlayStation ecosystem – with digital games and other purchases tied to it.

Praise heaven almighty, that is changing. In the next major PlayStation update, users will finally be able to change their PSN names. There are a lot of caveats that come with that name change. As detailed in the beta for the firmware that allows the change, just by changing PSN ID, you may lose access to content you’ve bought. You could also lose save data, leaderboard placement and progress towards trophies. To top it off, in some instances players could see your terrible pre-change ID anyway.

Take a look at the caveats:

Important Information Before Changing your Online ID:

  • Not all games and applications for PS4™, PS3™, PS Vita, and other PlayStation® systems support the Online ID change feature. If you change your Online ID:
  • You may lose access to content (including paid-for content) that you have acquired for your games, including content like add-ons and virtual currency.
  • You may lose your progress within games, including game saved data, leaderboard data and progress toward trophies.
  • Parts of your games and applications might not function properly, both online and offline.
  • Your previous Online ID(s) may remain visible to you and other players in some places.
  • The first change will be free, with subsequent name changes costing €9.99/£7.99. you can also revert any name changes you make once – but it may not resolve any of the problems you may encounter.

In short, you’d have to really, really, really hate your PSN name to make this change. While everything will probably turn out just fine, this is just Sony doing a bit of arse-covering. It also does highlight the company’s lack of foresight when implementing the PSN ID system, as the names themselves served as identifiers, instead of some other unique identifier that was so rigid. Silly!

Last Updated: October 24, 2018

29 Comments

  1. Pariah

    October 24, 2018 at 07:52

    Wow, that does not sound worth the risk tbh. Why implement it at all until those sorts of issues are resolved? And in the end, Sony a name – not worth losing stuff you’ve paid for.

    Reply

    • Geoffrey Tim

      October 24, 2018 at 07:57

      I don;t think they truly can be resolved. It’ll probably be 100% fine for most Ps4 games, but these issues will crop up in PS3 and Vita games, because the online ID is effectively (and I’m using this for simplicity) hardcoded, instead of using a variable.

      Reply

      • Pariah

        October 24, 2018 at 08:02

        Well I do understand using the name as the identifier rather than a hidden ID – I briefly made that mistake in dev before and I saw how badly it scaled. Fixed it and now we can rename stuff with abandon on our LMS without any conflicts. It’s just bizarre that Sony would make that kind of error and keep it for this long.

        And it’s that “probably” that would make me rather just stick to whatever dumb pseudonym that I’d chosen. Unless it was something like “longdongwhatashlong365”, but fucking hell I didn’t even do that as a teenager.

        Reply

      • HvR

        October 24, 2018 at 11:24

        Even if it is hardocded why the in the living blazes would you use a displayname as the hardcoded tag

        Reply

  2. Original Heretic

    October 24, 2018 at 08:07

    Jeez, that sucks some serious donkey dick.

    Reply

    • Pariah

      October 24, 2018 at 08:09

      PSN. It really licks the llama’s balls…

      Or am I getting this mixed up?

      Reply

      • Original Heretic

        October 24, 2018 at 08:12

        Nah, you’re good.
        In this analogy, any animal will do.

        Because it really beats the badger’s balls.

        Reply

        • Pariah

          October 24, 2018 at 10:12

          Yeah I guess it really does munch the Monster’s Cheddar. 😉

          Reply

          • Original Heretic

            October 24, 2018 at 10:14

            It only wanted a little nibble?

          • Pariah

            October 24, 2018 at 10:14

            Wanted Cheddar, got Gorgonzola instead.

          • Original Heretic

            October 24, 2018 at 10:15

            *blue cheese

          • Pariah

            October 24, 2018 at 10:17

            Both are mouldy blue-veined cheeses so can work. But Gorgonzola “has a crumbly and soft texture with nutty aroma.” so I thought it sounded better. XD

          • Original Heretic

            October 24, 2018 at 10:18

            Gorgonzola also sounds like Godzilla (a little bit, IMO). Far too large.

          • Pariah

            October 24, 2018 at 10:20

            Well, Gorgons aren’t large, but are covered in serpents and turn anyone who gazes upon them to stone, such is the horror. So there’s that. 😛

          • Original Heretic

            October 24, 2018 at 10:29

            The gorgons were also beautiful women (in the classic mythology).
            No, I cannot condone that.

          • Pariah

            October 24, 2018 at 10:43

            I guess that depends on your definition of beautiful. Personally the whole snakes on the head + snake’s tail thing doesn’t really do it for me, but hey. There are far worse kinks out there today.

          • Pariah

            October 24, 2018 at 10:43

            I guess that depends on your definition of beautiful. Personally the whole snakes on the head + snake’s tail thing doesn’t really do it for me, but hey. There are far worse kinks out there today.

          • Original Heretic

            October 24, 2018 at 11:01

            Just imagine, for a second, what that snake tongue could do for you…

            Hmmmmmmmmmm….

          • Pariah

            October 24, 2018 at 12:04

            No… Just. No.

          • Admiral Chief

            October 24, 2018 at 13:18

            ‘nutty aroma’

            heehee

  3. Kromas

    October 24, 2018 at 08:12

    And Sonys response “It is to protect the children”

    Alternatively “It is to ensure you are playing on the best platform possible”

    Hahahahahahaha 😛

    Reply

  4. Viper_ZA

    October 24, 2018 at 08:59

    Errrr I really only have PS4 games on my profile, so should be relatively safe to change my ID? Will wait for someone else to have a try first lol 😉

    Reply

    • Geoffrey Tim

      October 24, 2018 at 09:51

      you should be fine. sole older PS4 games may cause online issues

      Reply

  5. Nikola

    October 24, 2018 at 11:16

    The only person who can take this risk because he has the WORST PSN name ever is Alessandro the rest of us are good!

    Reply

    • Alessandro Barbosa

      October 24, 2018 at 12:46

      I will gladly pay this tax

      Reply

  6. Pieter Kruger

    October 24, 2018 at 13:42

    Well…..well at least trey’re trying….sort of…..kudus to Sony!

    Reply

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