Looks like PlayStation’s Auth servers are down among everything else. Even if multiplayer was free, I don’t see how modern games would function without that service running. Who am I playing against? What’s their name? How did I get my account progress?

Just about everything multiplayer nowadays relies on account / Auth services. Especially on console.

[–] Godort@lemm.ee 67 points 2 weeks ago

Sure, but if it were free it's a "you get what you pay for" situation. People are a lot more forgiving when they aren't personally losing money.

[–] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 30 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (16 children)

You used to be able to type in an IP address whether or not the official server is running. Sometimes you still can, but seeing as Baldur's Gate 3 has LAN and direct IP connection on PC but not on PlayStation, it sure seems like Sony is asking them to specifically remove the feature if they wanted it in the first place.

Then beyond that, you've got a mismatch behind what your money is actually for. It used to be for paying for their servers, but you often don't even connect to Sony's servers anymore. Plenty of games behind that same paywall have their own servers, like Call of Duty for instance, but Call of Duty's multiplayer is behind the same paywall as Helldivers 2, which is running servers on Sony's dime. And beyond that...the reason multiplayer is free on PC is because your purchases are funding them. The majority of game sales on consoles are now digital, just like Steam, and that is a trend that's accelerating. Meanwhile, the subscription fee compared to free online on PC is probably one of a multitude of reasons that people are leaving consoles for PC.

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[–] herrvogel@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Nobody's gonna dispute the necessity of some sort of server somewhere in the mix. But does it need to be something like PSN? A central 3rd party service that most games only use because they're forced to?

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[–] 0x0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Free your mind! There is another way. Video game servers should be open-source, and the games should permit you to choose a custom server. This way, games can survive the bankruptcy of their creators' companies.

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[–] SkybreakerEngineer@lemmy.world 11 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

Boy, it sure is a good thing that Sony backed off charging a subscription fee for single player PC games

Or should I say, BOY

[–] ech@lemm.ee 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

To be clear, that was not a thing. Just the PSN account doesn't require payment. The subscription is for playing in MP and (I think) access to online media like yt.

[–] Fiivemacs@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

The account is step one to lock you into their ecosystem to then force payment plans.

[–] ech@lemm.ee 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Probably, but it hasn't been on the table yet. Saying that it was is just going to hurt valid criticism.

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[–] AFreeLarryHoover@lemmy.world 92 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

It’s 2011 all over again

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_PlayStation_Network_outage

[–] essteeyou@lemmy.world 55 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Last night I thought "this happened a few years ago, too, and we got free games as an apology" and now you tell me it was 14 YEARS ago!?

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 23 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Yes, and I'm also telling you we'll get no free games this time. Business is more of a "fuck you" attitude in 2025.

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[–] BlastboomStrice@mander.xyz 7 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

B..but 2011 was like 6years ago?? No?

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[–] Harvey656@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

Your making me feel old... I remember when it happened. I was so pissed I couldn't play call of duty.

[–] tonyn@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

You're making ME feel old. I remember having to go over my friend's house to play multiplayer.

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[–] meowmeowbeanz@sh.itjust.works 78 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Sony’s uptime delusions crumbling faster than a PSN auth server. Fourteen hours of radio silence while charging for the privilege of digital serfdom? Masterstroke. Remember 2011’s month-long outage? At least we got free games as consolation—now they’ll just send thoughts and prayers via shareholder memos.

”Premium service” my ass. Paywalls for multiplayer, cloud saves held hostage, and a walled garden rotting from neglect. But hey, keep funding Zuck’s yacht repairs while your PS5 gathers dust. The 2011 apology tour is dead—2025’s mantra is ”fuck you, pay more.”

Reboot the servers, Jim. Or just admit the cloud was a screensaver all along.

[–] derpgon@programming.dev 30 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The cloud is just someone else's computer.

[–] Doomsider@lemmy.world 11 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

You just made a Techbro angry somewhere in the world.

[–] ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml 7 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Nope, people in IT know that the cloud is just someone else's computer lol

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[–] ech@lemm.ee 61 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

If only there were a way to connect to a network without an intermediary like PSN. Damn shame that it's impossible.

[–] P1nkman@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

I think ARPANET will have something like this once they got it working

[–] Pika@sh.itjust.works 59 points 2 weeks ago (9 children)

This doesn't bode well.

The last time this happened was when Anonymous hacked PSN and took them down for a month after they went after Geohotz(cant remember the spelling) for jailbreaking/reverse engineering the ps3.

Radio silence like before as well. I hope they weren't breached again.

[–] technomad@slrpnk.net 12 points 2 weeks ago

Oh yeah, I remember that now!

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[–] Kite@sh.itjust.works 42 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I've never thought about it before, but I wonder if the companies with games containing microtransactions can ask PSN for compensation for lost income due to long outages.

[–] benignintervention@lemmy.world 36 points 2 weeks ago (6 children)

I knew a guy who did this with Comcast for every minute his Internet was out. He'd call them every day for weeks until they cut him an account credit

[–] nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org 12 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

When I worked at a web host, we had people like that. Being support sucked. Like, yes, it sucks that your e-commerce site that uses horrifically outdated software is offline but, we don't offer quad nines, especially not on a $35/year shared hosting plan. And, honestly Drew, your site gets single-digit visits per month and sells erotica based upon the premise of Edgar Allen Poe being transported to 1990s Brooklyn and working as an apartment building super. At best, you're breaking even on that hosting bill.

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[–] randon31415@lemmy.world 33 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Musk is currently reviewing it for DEI terms. Also Trump just fired the Sony board and declared himself president of Sony.

[–] themurphy@lemmy.ml 7 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

What?

[–] ShepherdPie@midwest.social 38 points 2 weeks ago

That's your body suffering from whiplash as we're once again back in the era where you never know whether someone is telling the truth or not when they make a wild claim about the president like that.

[–] Stamau123@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

a play on Trump purging the Kennedy Center and installing himself as chief

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[–] Will8250@lemmings.world 27 points 2 weeks ago

As of about an hour ago, it is back up

[–] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 20 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

Damn reading the impact this has is some combination of hilarious and horrifying to see people bought into a service like this. If it was free or simply a monthly sub like Netflix I could kinda understand. But a sub to use things you also had to buy? Fuck that.

[–] flop_leash_973@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

Not sure if this is still the case, but with Steam it used to be that if you didn't put the client into "offline mode" ahead of time the client wouldn't open, let alone allow you to launch a game once the connection was lost.

I hope they took care of that by now.

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[–] ProIsh@lemmy.world 17 points 2 weeks ago (6 children)

Finally picked up kingdom come 2 on my ps5 just to dust it off after not playing for years and this is my weekend. Well played Sony, well played

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[–] kryllic@programming.dev 17 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Someone unplugged the Mac mini

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[–] A_Union_of_Kobolds@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago

Bungie devs who were desperately hoping for a good Heresy dungeon launch: ...I'm getting fired aren't I

[–] teft@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

I’ve been playing so much kingdom come deliverance 2 that I didn’t even notice PSN being down.

If you like RPGs try it.

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[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago

"Did you remember to plug the server back in after vacuuming the server room?"

"Shit." "Honey, gotta make a quick jump at the office! "

[–] watson387@sopuli.xyz 8 points 2 weeks ago

It annoys me that you can't even look at your trophies for games when PSN is down...

[–] flop_leash_973@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Better than every year or so no one can play the games they supposedly "bought" due to some technical hiccup for a random yet lengthy amount of time than some percentage of people be able to more easily play our games without paying us. -some Sony/gaming industry stooge probably

In all seriousness, people need to stop being so willing to put up with this sort of easily foreseeable failing with the current way of doing digital goods. If I can't use it without the blessing of someone else it is not buying, it is borrowing, and that severely impacts the value proposition for me personally.

Technical issues WILL happen. It is the nature of the beast, it is just terrible engineering to build what is essentially dead man switches into your customers products.

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