PlayStation Network is offline for many users of the service today, with Sony acknowledging that they’re aware of the issues being reported and are currently investigating.
The official PlayStation Support Twitter account announced that is aware of the problem and the company’s engineers are working to resolve it.
We're aware that some PSN users are experiencing connectivity issues. Thank you for your patience as we investigate.
— Ask PlayStation (@AskPlayStation) February 1, 2016
Some users are reporting normal service or slight disruptions while others seem unable to connect entirely and it’s worth bearing in mind that your experience with the service may not be reflective of the majority. While most users tolerated, if never quite accepted, PSN’s bumpy performance when it was free those with a PlayStation Plus account will likely be somewhat angrier given that they’re paying for this service. Indeed, Sony justified locking multiplayer behind a Plus subscription on PS4 as a means of raising money to invest back into PSN.
Sony issued a free extra day’s subscription to all Plus members earlier this month after PSN was unavailable for several hours on January 4th. Everyone who had an active subscription on that date was entitled to the extra day but it’s unclear if users should expect similar compensation this time round – that will likely depend on the length of the delay.
We’ll update you once Sony reveals more information about the problem or issues the all clear that normal service has resumed. Of course, given the frequency with which PSN is down, it could be argued that actually being online is the rarer of the two.
Earlier this week Sony announced a significant increase in profits and PS4 shipments of 8.4 million during the Holiday 2015 quarter.
