PlayStation Network back from dead after a 20-hour downtime

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The PlayStation Network (PSN) experienced a significant outage that began on Friday night and lasted for over 20 hours, making it one of its most prolonged service interruptions. 

Although the PlayStation Status page initially indicated that all systems were operational, players continued to experience disruptions for several hours before Sony fully restored it.

Sony is giving PSN users extra days following the outage 

PSN has been restored. You should be able to access online features without any problems now. For more details: https://t.co/NJX2xGusZM
Sorry for the inconvenience!

— Ask PlayStation (@AskPlayStation) February 8, 2025

At approximately midnight on February 9, Sony’s official support account, Ask PlayStation, announced on X/Twitter that it had fully restored PSN services. 

To compensate for the downtime, Sony declared that all PlayStation Plus subscribers would receive an automatic five-day extension to their service. 

However, the company provided little insight into the outage’s root cause, vaguely attributing it to an “operational issue.” 

Network services have fully recovered from an operational issue. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank the community for their patience. All PlayStation Plus members will automatically receive an additional 5 days of service.

— Ask PlayStation (@AskPlayStation) February 9, 2025

Sony also apologized for the inconvenience, but this did little to quell the frustration of players who had lost a significant portion of their weekend gaming time.

Many PlayStation users took to social media to voice their dissatisfaction, not only about the outage itself but also about Sony’s lack of transparency and the adequacy of its compensation. 

In the eyes of many players, a five-day extension was an insufficient response, particularly given the lack of communication during the downtime. 

Additionally, concerns were raised over Sony’s failure to provide details about what led to the disruption, leaving the gaming community in the dark.

A particular point of contention was that the compensation only applied to active PlayStation Plus members, even though the outage had affected all users, including those who do not subscribe to PSN services. 

Some players argued that Sony should offer a more substantial gesture, such as a free month of PlayStation Plus or even a complimentary game, rather than a brief service extension.

Despite Sony’s claims that the issue has been resolved, some players still report connection problems. DownDetector, a website that tracks outages, has continued to register a higher-than-normal volume of issue reports.

This suggests that while most of the disruption may be over, some lingering connectivity problems remain.

Did the outage affect you? How do you feel about a weekend without gaming because of an outage like this? We want to hear your thoughts below in the comments, or via our Twitter or Facebook.