Update:
In the absence of the an official announcement from Sony, users are experimenting with the option themselves. It seems that despite appearing in the store menu, it isn’t functional yet. Either Sony slipped and the feature appeared prematurely, or the company’s gearing up to set it live soon and this was just the first step. We don’t have any other details at the moment but we’ll make sure to update our readers when we have more information.
Original story:
A Reddit post recently brought to our attention that players can now change their PlayStation Store region if they’re based in select European countries. While we don’t know when this change went live, we can confirm that the option is indeed available for accounts in the region.
Upon loading the PS Store page via my console, I found the option (pictured above) to change countries under “Store Region” in the menu on the left. The list of countries that I can switch my UK account to includes Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.
Switzerland is noticeably absent from the list even though it has its own PS Store page. A ResetEra user has theorized that the country may have been excluded as it’s not a part of the European Economic Area (EEA).
Although PS4 users can create multiple accounts in regions of their choice, the ability to simply change countries via the PS Store menu is certainly welcome, and we hope that this option will be rolled out on a larger scale in the future. As someone who moved from Europe to Asia many years ago, I would love to be able to switch countries without having to create a new account.
Any of our European readers planning to change their PS Store region? Let us know in the comments section below. If you’re outside of Europe, share your thoughts on the feature with us.
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.
