Name Changes are Finally Coming to PSN

After nearly 12 years, Sony is finally delivering on a much-requested feature for PSN: the ability to change your online ID.

A post on the PlayStation Blog details that a beta for the name change feature will be available to select PSN users “soon.” Testers will be able to change their name as many times as they want, with the first change coming at no charge. After that, a name change will cost $9.99, or $4.99 for PlayStation Plus subscribers. The change will be conducted on the PS4 itself through the settings menu or profile page. After the testing period ends in late-November, the feature will roll out to all PS4 users in early 2019.

There are some important things to note about the feature, however. When a name change is made, users will have the option to display their old name if they choose so friends can recognize them more easily. This setting cannot be changed once the name change is complete, so users will have to decide if they want to display their old name on their profile or not. Most importantly, the post also mentions that “not all games and applications for PS4, PS3 and PS Vita systems are guaranteed to support the online ID change, and users may occasionally encounter issues or errors in certain games.” If a user experiences issues with a particular game after the change, they will be able to revert to their original name at any time. Thankfully, all PS4 games released on April 1st, 2018 or later will fully support the feature, in addition to “a large majority of the most-played PS4 games that were released before this date.”

The implementation isn’t perfect, but offering the option for name changes shows yet again that Sony is making a more concerted effort to appease its customers. Late last month, it was announced that cross-platform play would be coming to select PS4 games after Fortnite ignited a renewed demand for the feature.

Kyle Flory

Kyle is a lifelong gamer and writer who studied English at Cal State San Bernardino. He has been a PlayStation fan since the release of Sony's original console and puts most of his game time in on his PS5. He loves Metal Gear Solid, and is currently working on getting platinum trophies for every game in the series.