After a long wait, players demanding it for years, and rumors swirling around the issue, Sony finally announced that they will be allowing PSN name changes, starting with a beta of the program for a limited selection of users in November 2018, and a full rollout of the program in 2019. Players will be given one free name change, and each subsequent change will cost $9.99 (or $4.99 for PlayStation Plus subscribers).
It appears that players will still retain their original PSN name as an underlying ID, with the PSN name change simply being an overlay or nickname of sorts. All games published after April of 2018 will support PSN name changes, but Sony can’t make any guarantees for any before that date.
Now that people can get rid of their embarrassing or outdated usernames, or even just create a username without numbers in it, it had us curious how many people would actually use the feature. With the first name change being free for everyone, that’s a golden ticket to restarting your online gaming reputation, at least to some extent. Will we be redeeming that golden ticket and changing our PSN name? Here’s what the PlayStation LifeStyle staff had to say.
Will you be changing your PSN name, or are you okay with the name you chose? Let us know in the comments below if you’re planning to, and why or why not.
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Now Loading - PSN Name Changes October 2018
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Now Loading - PSN Name Changes
Will you be changing your PSN name now that Sony has announced the feature?
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Lucas White
My gut reaction is to go ahead and do it, if only because the option will be available, and I can change it to match my personal branding or whatever. However, I’m cautious due to the announcement mentioning errors and such with older games, so I’ll probably hold out to see what that means in more detail. Luckily my PSN ID isn’t “xXx_NarutoCloudGoku_420” or whatever so I’m not powering through years of lingering shame like so many others seem to be.
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Annette Polis
If only someone in Japan hadn't registered it first! They are still using it so I won't be making any changes to my account. (PS. Hey Sony, when will you let me change my country of residence?)
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Blake Grundman
My PSN name will never change. It has been my online handle for over two decades, long before it was ever my PSN ID. That isn’t going to change anytime soon.
I wonder if my wife would be pissed if I had it etched into my headstone... -
Cameron Teague
I love my PSN name, so I see no reason to ever change it.
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Chandler Wood
I go back and forth. On the one hand, my name does have some meaning behind it, on the other, it hasn't been my active nickname in a number of years now (plus it has numbers in it, which also do mean something, but I don't know if I like).
I may change it to match a more updated username, but I'll have to see how it all plays out once the feature rolls out wide. If it doesn't look all that stable, I'm okay keeping my original one.
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Janet Garcia
Nope. I don't game online much or have many PSN friends to begin with.
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Jenni Lada
It is nice to know the option will be there, but I won't be changing mine either. I already know it and frankly, it is so undesirable that I do not have to worry about someone wanting to steal it. I already had someone try to steal my Gmail address, probably due to it being short and having no numbers. I don't want to have to worry about someone trying to take my PSN account too.
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Keri Honea
Totally changing it so it matches the rest of my online monikers.
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Zarmena Khan
My PSN ID is simply my name spelled backwards so I see no reason to change it. But I'd eventually like the option to change my country. I moved a while back and it sucks when I can't redeem certain codes that come with my locally purchased games.
