PlayStation Network outage: Sony offers compensation to angry PS5 gamers

The PlayStation Network was down for 24 hours this weekend

(Credit: Sony)

• 🚨 PlayStation Network was down for almost 24 hours this weekend

• 😣 The outage left millions unable to play PS5 and PS4 games

• 🤷‍♂️ Sony said an “operational issue” caused the outage

• 🙇‍♂️ Players will receive five days of PlayStation Plus as an apology

Sony’s PlayStation Network mysteriously went down over the weekend, much to the dismay of PS5 and PS4 gamers across the globe. It took almost 24 hours before the service returned, leaving millions who wished to game unable to do so.

It didn’t help that Sony provided brief acknowledgement of the issue, simply posting “We are aware some users might be currently experiencing issues with PSN” on X during the outage.

Unfortunately for Sony, as the PlayStation Network outage dragged on, more people wondered if someone had hacked the service. In 2011, hackers shut down the service for almost a month, compromising the sensitive information of around 70 million players.

Thankfully, this doesn’t seem to be the case this time around as Sony claimed the outrage was because of an “operational issue”, but it’s worth making sure you have two-factor authentication turned on and it wouldn’t hurt to change your password.

PlayStation Network outage compensation

The recent PlayStation Network outage is now the second-longest in the company’s history, and Sony has announced it will offer compensation to everyone affected. Players will receive 5 free days of extra PlayStation Plus membership, which hasn’t pleased everyone.

How to turn on PS5 ‘Offline Play’

The outage highlights how online-dependent modern-day consoles have become. To avoid being affected next time, you’ll want to enable Offline Play on your PS5 console.

Go to Settings > Users and Accounts > Other > Console Sharing and Offline Play and select Enable. Offline Play lets you play your games and media even when the console is offline, play games and media you’ve purchased and downloaded, and enjoy some benefits of your PlayStation Plus membership.

• Up next: Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater release date leaks along with new trailer

Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.