Sony announced on Sunday that all PlayStation Plus subscribers will receive an automatic five-day extension to their service after a global outage disrupted the PlayStation Network (PSN) for approximately 18 hours between Friday and Saturday.
The disruption, which began late Friday, prevented users from signing in, playing online games, or accessing the PlayStation Store. Sony confirmed by Saturday evening that PSN had been fully restored. The company apologized for the inconvenience in a post on X but did not specify what caused the outage.
The PlayStation Network is a critical part of Sony’s gaming ecosystem, serving millions of players worldwide. At the peak of the disruption, outage reports from Downdetector.com showed that around 7,939 users in the U.S. and 7,336 in the UK were affected on Saturday afternoon.
While this outage was resolved within a day, Sony has faced longer and more severe disruptions in the past. A 2014 cyberattack left PSN offline for several days during the holiday season, and in 2011, a security breach exposed the personal data of nearly 77 million users, leading to a month-long shutdown and regulatory scrutiny.
Following the latest incident, some players expressed frustration but appreciated the swift resolution. “PlayStation is back up again after being down for a whole day. Sony at least saved millions of Gamers their Sunday right after ruining their Saturday,” one user posted on X.
