The day has finally come! For the longest time, PlayStation Network account holders have been asking for a way to change their user ID. While Xbox has had this ability for quite some time, PlayStation had been teasing this ability. But now, it’s here and it’s ready for you. That’s if you’re willing.
Good news! All PS4 owners can change their online ID starting *today.* Here's how it works: https://t.co/t2v1RAbSfz pic.twitter.com/rRDq02kbLi
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) April 10, 2019
For starters the first name change is free, additional changes will cost $9.99 or $4.99 for PSN Plus subscribers. However, if you want to revert to your original ID, the change is free. The plus side is once you change your ID, your older one becomes locked so no one else can take it.
However, there are several things to consider if you want to change your ID. Games published after April 1, 2018, will officially support the change. While some older titles and remasters will have some issues, some apparently critical. Sony has provided a list of games that are supported, here. There’s also the possibility that you’ll lose access to content, both free and paid. Losing game progress (game saves), leaderboard data and trophy progression can also happen to you. Lastly, the name changes won’t apply to the PlayStation 3 or PlayStation Vita, if you still happen to play those systems.
That’s a lot of potentially bad stuff that could happen with a name change. Thankfully, I have my desired name and I see no need to play around with this trainwreck in the making. However, I know there are those out there that aren’t happy with their original PSN ID’s. So, if you wanna play with fire, you can still change your ID by following the steps here.
I guess that’s the best that we’re going to get, yet I have to admit I’m very disappointed with this. Sony had promised this feature a long time ago, had so much time to get this right. Yet, the feature has been released in what I consider to be a broken state. I really don’t advise anyone to take advantage of this, unless you really don’t care about the outcome. Instead, let’s see if Sony can get this working in a better state. I mean, do you really want to risk losing any of your game saves or progression? I sure as hell don’t.
