How to change your PlayStation Network username

Photography: Vjeran Pavic

It wasn't always easy to change your account name. Sony allowed account holders to do it at the time. Each account can change its name for free. If you're a PS Plus subscriber, you'll have to pay $4.99 for any changes after that.

We will walk you through the process if you want to change it. There are a few warnings to run through first.

Sony says that if you play newer games that were released after April 1st, you shouldn't experience any issues with the usernames change since those games were developed to support this feature. If you still enjoy games from earlier in the PS4 era, that's a different story. If you change your name, Sony has created a list of games with known issues.

Before you change your name, Sony will prompt you with numerous ways that some of your precious game save data might be affected, whether it is stored locally or in the cloud.

• Your previous Online ID may remain visible to you and other players in some areas
• You may lose progress within games, including game saved data, leaderboard data, and progress toward Trophies
• Parts of your game and applications may not function properly both online and offline
• You may lose access to content (including paid-for content) that you may have acquired for your games, including content like add-ons and virtual currency

If you're still interested in changing your name, here's how to do it.

Using a web browser

• Your first step is to sign in to your Sony account. Once you do that, you’ll see your PSN account name (Sony calls it your “Online ID”) as the top option in the window. Click “Edit” to change your username.

• Before you can proceed, Sony will raise those warnings listed above. Hit “I Accept” if you want to keep going.

• There are more warnings on the next step. Sony informs you that if you encounter issues, you can revert the change and reclaim your old username. However, it also warns that doing so may not fix problems should they arise. In other words, there’s a chance that something will get messed up. If you’re cool with the risk, move forward.

Using a PlayStation 4

• On your PS4’s main dashboard, navigate to “Settings” and select it

• Scroll through the list until you find the “Account Management” option. Click on that, then select “Account Information” > “Profile” > “Online ID.”
• You’ll see the same warnings that Sony displays to browser users before allowing a username change
• After accepting these warnings, you can enter a new username

Using a PlayStation 5

The process of changing your name on the PS5 is similar to what you would see on the PS4 with some small changes.

• On your PS5’s main dashboard, navigate to “Settings” and select it
• Select “Users and Accounts” > “Accounts” > “Profile”
• You’ll see the same warnings that Sony displays to browser users before allowing a username change
• After accepting these warnings, you’ll be asked to enter your existing PSN credentials before entering a new username

• The settings menu is found at the far right of the home screen on PS5.
• Scroll down to the Users and Accounts page. Image: Cameron Faulkner
• Next, go to your profile. Image: Cameron Faulkner
• Select Online ID. Image: Cameron Faulkner
• Once you go through the disclaimers you can then change your Online ID. Image: Cameron Faulkner

How do I get my old username back?

You can change your password for free if you contact the support team. They can be reached by phone on weekdays between the hours of 6AM and 6PM and by online chat on weekends from 7AM to 8PM.

Sony doesn't guarantee that going back to your old password will fix any problems you might have encountered with the new one.

This article was originally published on August 15th, 2019, and has been updated to include a section about changing your PS5 usernames.