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A Long Awaited PlayStation Feature May Finally Be On The Way
8 minutes ago
There has been one feature among many that gamers have been desperately asking for from Sony. And after years of begging, Sony has finally acquiesced and it appears as if the company might be giving gamers what they've been asking for regarding one particular feature for the PlayStation platforms. I'm not entirely sure why it took Sony so long to deliver the feature, but for gamers who have been begging and pleading for it, it looks like it will be coming sooner rather than later.
Kotaku is reporting that PSN name changes may be on the way. The change will enable users to change their PSN IDs into new IDs, according to the Kotaku article. The PlayStation Network name changes will reportedly be coming soon.
Supposedly, there are multiple studios working with Sony on the changes and that the changes are currently being worked on so that they will be compatible with the security and infrastructure setup of the current PlayStation Network system.
This isn't just entirely hearsay, there were some physical forms of proof that were provided to indicate that the change was at least in development. The proof came in the form of a screenshot from an internal documentation that featured an "edit username" option and that the documentation itself was to help developers with implementing the ability to change the username of a PlayStation Network ID.
The article states that there is no time frame on when this particular feature will roll out, but that it is in the pipeline. It also mentions that there could be issues with the new change, given that PSN IDs utilize account usernames that link to the game's user ID. As opposed to having the account ID and the in-game ID as separate identifiers. This means that there could be issues that arise where you might change your PlayStation Network ID but still have your old username when you enter into certain PSN-enabled games that relied on the old username setup.
This is presumably why multiple studios are working with Sony on the issue so that they can update and upgrade their user ID systems to fall in line with the new system that Sony has coming down the pipeline.
It's been a long-requested feature from gamers given that Sony's nearest competitors, including Microsoft, Valve, and Nintendo, all allow you to change your user ID when playing online. Now you know something is bad when Nintendo, of all companies, allows you to change your Nintendo Network profile name when playing online with just a few easy button presses, but Sony doesn't.
Microsoft charges for name changes on Xbox Live, but it's a fairly painless process to have your unique Gametag ID changed from the account settings.
Valve also allows you to change what your user display name is in Steam, even though your account ID will stay static.
If Sony finally does pull the trigger on this feature and implement the name changes, it would finally bring the company up to par with the rest of the competition.
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