The PlayStation Network has been down for 17 hours - and PSN players say even single-player games and disc drives aren't working

God of War Ragnarok
(Image credit: Sony)

The PlayStation Network has been busted for most players for 17 hours, causing problems with online play, the PlayStation Store, and PlayStation Portal.

The official PSN Network Status confirms that issues began to arise on Saturday at 00:00am UK time, and players across PS3, PS Vita, PS4, and PS5 might have problems with account management, signing in, game streaming, game purchasing, and most importantly: playing games.

When online servers go down, most players expect not to be able to play multiplayer games or games that require persistent internet access. However, these outages are also reportedly affecting digital single-player games as modern PlayStation consoles need to verify if you have access to a game's license.

"Can't use this content," the error message reads when trying to boot up digital games on the PS5, including exclusively single-player ones like Metaphor: ReFantazio and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. "Can't connect to the server to verify your license."

Even more curiously, some players are reporting that you can't even connect a disc drive to the all-digital PS5 Slim or PS5 Pro at the moment, meaning that entire physical libraries are seemingly unplayable during these outages. "This is why real physical media and disc drive access is vital," writes one player.

"We are aware some users might be currently experiencing issues with PSN," PlayStation tweeted with no further follow up.

This comes a week before Sony is expected to hold a State of Play showcase featuring news from Death Stranding 2, which has been teased extensively over the last few days, and the Metal Gear Solid 3 remake, which just had a trailer and its release date leaked online.

For now, don’t miss a single exciting release with our new games of 2025 and beyond release calendar.

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Freelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.

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