If you're a hardcore PlayStation fan, Wednesday might not be a great day for you: Sony just announced that the PlayStation Network will be going down for maintenance next week. Outside of routine maintenance, Sony hasn't given a reason for the outage — that being said, it did confirm what services would be unavailable during the downtime.
First and foremost, the PlayStation Store will be inaccessible. That means no downloads or purchase, or access to PlayStation Video. Account Management will also be down, so don't bother trying to change your password while Sony is working on the system.
There is a workaround, however: if you really want to play during the outage, simply sign in and confirm your connection before the maintenance starts and you should be good to go. Sony did say that "most" applications will be available during the downtime, so your mileage may vary — it may be safer to stick with offline or single-player games while the PSN is down.
Then again, it's safe to say that most gamers will be asleep when Sony starts working on the PSN: the outage is scheduled for 12:30 a.m. EDT and will last for roughly two hours. Needless to say, these are hardly peak traffic hours for the PSN — but if you really need to get some late-night gaming in, just make sure to sign in early.
One thing that everyone should do is activate their PlayStation 4 as their "primary console." This ensures that all of your content licenses are set to the machine you use most (which, for most people, would be in their homes) and prevents random lockouts or unnecessary hassle during maintenance periods like Wednesday's outage.
To do this, sign in to your PlayStation 4, and then head to the Settings menu. Under PlayStation Network/Account Settings, you'll find an option to "Activate as Your Primary PS4" — simply hit "Activate," and you'll be all set to go!
Given the timing of Sony's maintenance, most East Coast players probably won't notice anything's changed — and while West Coast players may have to deal with the outage more directly, at least the downtime won't last for very long.
Sony's PlayStation Network maintenance is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, May 25 at 12:30 a.m. EDT and will last until 2:30 a.m. EDT.
