How to change your PlayStation Network (PSN) online ID

Sony announced a few hours ago that, as of today, April 11, 2019, we can change the online ID of our account on PlayStation Network (PSN). If it happened to you like me, that you signed up without thinking too much about the nickname and you have spent years regretting it, you are finally going to be able to change it.

However, this excellent news has been accompanied by some controversy since Sony has decided to put certain restrictions. We can modify the PSN online ID for free, yes, but only if we meet certain requirements. Also, this is an update that will only work with certain games. Let's see the details!

Requirements to be able to change the online ID in PSN and other information of interest

The PlayStation Network online ID change is available to all PlayStation 4 users. It is a free modification -the first time- that we can do both from the console and from a web browser. However, the thing is not there:

• The first online ID change is free. The following modifications are priced at € 9.99. If we are members of PS Plus, the price is € 4.99.
• Games prior to April 1, 2018 do not support online ID change.
• PS3 and PS Vita games do not support ID change.
• Games originally released as of April 1 are designed to be compatible, although there may be cases where they are not fully compatible.
• The change cannot be made from either a PS3 or a PS Vita (PS4 or browser only).
• When updating, we will have the possibility to show our new online ID next to the old ID in our profile. It will only be for 30 days and it will help our friends to see the ID change.
• We can modify our online ID as many times as we want.
• We can change and get our old ID back (as long as we don't violate the terms of service). Recovery is free and we can recover as many IDs as we want.
• No person can reuse one of our previous IDs. These are reserved for if we want to recover them in the future.
• Children's accounts cannot retrieve a previous online ID.

Possible problems and inconveniences of changing the ID online

Before we go wild to make the ID change, we must take into account certain drawbacks. And is that not all PlayStation 4 games released as of April 1 are fully supported.

Sony has published a list (HERE) where we can check both compatible games and those with problems detected. Therefore, we must be vigilant, as there are a lot of extremely popular games that have compatibility problems.

Titles like Bloodborne, NARUTO SHIPPUDEN: Ultimate Ninja STORM 4, NBA 2K19, Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, DARK SOULS III, The Last of Us Remastered, UNCHARTED 4: A Thief’s End, Injustice 2, and many others.

Possible faults detected

The company expects that there will only be serious problems with a very small number of games. In any case, these are some of the bugs that we could find in games not compatible with the ID change.

• The old online ID may remain visible in some places.
• Loss of progress in unsupported games (save data, ranking and unlocking of trophies).
• Some parts of the game, both online and offline, may not work properly.
• We could lose access to purchased content for those games, including add-ons and virtual currencies.

In case of detecting any of these problems, we can always try to solve it by going back to our previous online ID. Luckily, this action is still 100% free.

How to change the PlayStation Network (PSN) online ID from a PS4

After reviewing all the warnings and possible failures, we see how the PSN online ID is changed. To carry out the process from our PlayStation 4 we will follow the following steps:

• We enter the PS4 settings menu.

• Let's go until "Account Management -> Account Information -> Profile -> Online ID”.

• Next, we enter the new online ID that we want to use from now on.

From here, we just have to follow the instructions shown on the screen to complete the change.

How to change the PlayStation Network (PSN) online ID from a web browser

If we do not have a PS4 at hand, or we simply prefer to do it directly from the mobile or PC, the process is very similar:

• We load the PlayStation Network page and log in with our account.

• In the side menu, we select "PSN Profile”.

• We click on the "edit" button located next to our online ID.

• We accept the warning message that appears on the screen.
• Finally, we indicate the new online ID that we want to use and follow the steps until the process is complete.

As you can see, it is a very simple procedure that we can carry out in a couple of minutes. And if it gives us problems, remember that we can always go back and recover our original ID.