The PlayStation Network, a premium subscription service that occasionally lets you play video games online, has a lot of problems. PS4 fans want to change that.
For all of Sony’s successes this generation, they’ve had a really tough time maintaining a stable, competent network for online services. In addition to random spurts of downtime, the modern PlayStation Network is full of all sorts of weird bugs—right now, for example, all of my messages say “received 28 minutes ago” no matter when I actually got them. Sometimes the PlayStation Store will randomly refuse to load until I reboot the machine. Occasionally, I won’t be able to hear or talk to members of a PSN party thanks to “NAT issues” that seem to be more common than they should be.
PSN also lacks some critical features that any major network in 2015 should have, like two-step verification, decent cloud storage (what’s with it filling up after a few dozen images?), and an online/offline/invisible/busy status so you can play multiplayer games even when you don’t want to talk to any of your friends. This is basic core functionality we’re talking about, not some sort of luxury.
Nearly two years after the PS4’s launch, Sony still hasn’t delivered on this stuff, so fans are speaking out. Enter #BetterPSN, a new campaign started by NeoGAFfers that calls on Sony to do a better job with their network services. The campaign, which has picked up a fair amount of momentum on Reddit and Twitter and even has a slick website, is full of reasonable complaints and decent suggestions from people who clearly use the PS4 a lot and want to see it get better.
Some highlights, from their website:
- “Online/offline (invisibility) status change”
- “Better friends list functionality with nicknames, grouping by categories (games, relationship), and VIP tags tied to the notification system”
- “Online/offline notifications”
- “Ability to send recorded videos directly to friends”
- “Search function, better organization and filters for download history/library”
- “Fix bug that prevents users from accessing the Store in certain situations, needing a reboot “
Decent suggestions, right? We’re not even talking about pipe dreams here—like, say, a subscription service that lets us play any PS1/PS2 game on PS4/Vita (COME ON SONY)—this is basic functionality people are asking for. The lack of two-step verification is particularly heinous. It’s 2015.
