Sony Officially Retires PlayStation Network Name After 20 Years

3 hours ago 1

Sony Thinks PlayStation Network Doesnt Sound Cool Anymore

Published Mar 18, 2026, 8:12 PM EDT

Covering the video games industry since 2017, with experience in news, articles, lists, and reviews (and I blame The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask for that).

If you are a fan of RPGs and want a third-person version: Tayná Garcia is a Brazilian journalist (but you can call her Tay) who ended up working with video games after finishing Zelda: Majora's Mask when she was a kid. With more than eight years of experience in the segment, she has been an assistant editor at Jovem Nerd in the past and is currently a contributor at DualShockers and a writer for gaming magazines for Editora Europa. Oh, and she may like Hideo Kojima a bit too much.

Out of the blue, PlayStation has decided to retire the terms “PlayStation Network” and “PSN” for its official online service, which is the backbone that allows players to game online, purchase digital content from the PlayStation Store, and access social features.

According to information from Insider Gaming, the decision was made today and communicated internally to first-party developers via email. The message explains that the change is purely a branding shift and won't affect the player experience in any technical way.

Best PS3 Games That Have Aged Like Fine Wine

“We’d like to inform you that Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has strategically decided to phase out the terms ‘PlayStation Network’ and ‘PSN’ across our platform in order to properly capture the breadth of our evolving digital services,” the email reads.

The internal memo continues by stating that the change “will not introduce any technical alterations to our offerings” and was made simply “to simplify and unify branding.”

The End of an Era

Sony Thinks PlayStation Network Doesnt Sound Cool Anymore 2

While a public announcement hasn't been made yet, the terms “PlayStation Network” and “PSN” are expected to disappear across all PlayStation platforms and SIE assets relatively soon: by September 2026.

“All features currently associated with PSN, including core network features such as friends, multiplayer, and trophies, will remain unaffected and available to players,” the company stated in the email. Interestingly enough, Sony hasn't mentioned which term will be adopted as the replacement.

The change is purely a branding shift and won't affect the player experience in any technical way.

The terms “PlayStation Network” and “PSN” were first introduced in 2006 for the PlayStation 3, as part of Sony's vision to keep players “always on, always connected” – if you remember that company motto, don't worry, I’m feeling old right now, too.

Jokes aside, it is a term that has always lived up to the promise of PlayStation’s online service, eventually expanding to the PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5 consoles. Now, 20 years later, we just have to wait and see what the replacement will be, and hope it doesn't take us another three generations to get used to it.