PSN outage leaves PS5, PS4 gamers offline for half a day: A look at major outages so far

There have been multiple outages since the PSN Network came into existence, affecting millions of PS3, PS4, and PS5 gamers. Here is a list of all the major outages so far.

PS5 and PS4 users are not able to connect to online PSN services. (Pexels)

Sony's PSN service, which allows PS5 and PS4 gamers to connect to online services, play multiplayer games, and even avail freebies like monthly PS Plus games, has been down for almost half a day now—a downtime that started around 6 AM IST on 1st October. Interestingly, this isn't the only outage that Sony's PSN service has experienced. In fact, there have been multiple outages since the PSN Network came into existence, affecting millions of gamers. Here is a list of all the major outages so far.

PSN Outage of 20th April 2011

This is arguably the biggest PlayStation Network outage to date, resulting from a cyberattack that affected 77 million users worldwide. It lasted for over 23 days, and Sony compensated gamers with free games for the PS3, PSP, and even 30 days of free PS Plus for eligible users.

PSN DDoS Attack on 25th December 2024

This was a Denial of Service (DDoS) attack that affected both PlayStation and Xbox users, wherein hackers flooded the network with connection requests, preventing users from logging in. The issue was reportedly resolved the following day.

PSN Outage of 2016

This was a smaller outage that affected a limited number of users in North America and Europe, lasting only a few hours.

Multiple Minor Outages Affected PlayStation Users

Over the years, several minor issues have disrupted the PSN service, impacting online gaming. Fortunately, these were not as significant as the aforementioned incidents and affected only a small number of users.