PlayStation Network Screen Name Changes Are Coming Soon Sony Confirms

There are a few things that will follow you around for a long time, one of them being bad screen names. If you are a PlayStation gamer and have had a bad PlayStation Network ID for a long time that you have often wished you could change, that change will soon arrive. Rumors have circulated that name changes would be possible, and Sony has now confirmed the rumor.

Sony has stated that PS Network gamers will be able to change their PSN IDs starting in early 2019. There is no firm date on when the changes will be possible. If you change your screen name and then decide you want something else, you can change as many times as you want. The caveat is that only the first change is free; after that it will cost $10 to change your PSN ID for non-PlayStation Plus members and $5 for PlayStation Plus members.

Before the service launches in full, Sony will be running a beta test to be sure things work as they are supposed to. To participate in the beta, you will need to be part of the PlayStation preview program. There is one potentially large caveat to this ID change scenario; not all games will support them. The name change feature will be compatible with PS4 games published after April 1, 2018. Games published before then will show your original screen name.

Another decision that gamers need to be ready to make when changing their PSN ID is if they want to display their old ID with the new ID. Sony says being able to do that will allow your friends to recognize you. If you want to ditch that old ID, keeping the old ID alongside the new ID makes no sense. The catch is that after you decide to display your old ID or not, you can’t adjust it again after completing the ID change process. Sony will allow gamers who run into issues to revert their new ID to the old ID one time. Sony also notes that reverting to your old ID will solve many issues you might run into.