Sony Finally Allowing Users to Change their PlayStation ID’s

There has been a lot of talk about people wanting to change their PlayStation Identification Number.  And you can’t really blame them.  Picture this: you’re a 12-year-old and your parents finally get you a gaming console.  You’re elated.  You get everything set up, and it’s time to choose your display name.  Regardless of whether it’s for PlayStation or some other online system, you’re probably going to choose something pretty hokey.  I know I did.  It wasn’t my PSN ID, but it was my first email address.  And then my second, and eventually my third.  I always wanted to seem deep, so I choose some obscure song lyric.  Of course, no one my age knew the songs or understood the meaning, and anyone older than me just thought I was weird.  I was a deep, brooding, emo 12-year old.

That’s all fine and well because you can always get a new email address.  But that hasn’t always been the case with the PlayStation ID.  Finally, they are letting users change that name.  This is a long-awaited feature that is launching soon in beta and will be available for everyone starting in 2019.  That said, maybe you picked a really conservative name – like your actual name – you can now change it to be something dark and brooding.  Or creative and crazy.  Whatever you want it to be, it’s now up to you.  Which is great, because who we are as people changes over time.  I know myself that I’m not the same person that I was two years ago. Heck, I don’t even feel the same as I did two months ago.  So I think that it is a bit unfair for PlayStation to hold people back in this sense.  It’s not cruel in any sense, but it’s not a great feature to be missing.

If you do decide to change your ID, you will have the option to display your old username alongside the new one.  That means friends can still recognize you, but if you do decide to display the old one, you won’t be able to toggle that off.  It’s weird, and hopefully, something that PlayStation will fix eventually.  According to Sony, during the preview program test, users will be able to change their PSN ID as many times as they want. The first change is free; after that, each swap will cost $9.99 (or $4.99 for PlayStation Plus members).

Is that ok?  I mean, I think so.  I think it’s ok to want to change your name, but changing it on the regular isn’t a good idea, period.  And, it’s going to end up costing you quite a bit, so you might want to consider that before making that big change.  Sony warns that the name-swapping feature is compatible with all PS4 games that were released after April 1st, 2018, and “a large majority of the most-played PS4 games” from before that date. However, the company is warning that not all games for the PS4, PS3, and PS Vita will work, and there may be some issues.  The beta will run for November 2018, and the full rollout of the feature is planned for early 2019.  Let us know if you change your name and how it works out for you!