After years of asking for such a feature, Sony has announced that players will soon be able to change their PlayStation Network IDs. This feature has been a long time coming, and according to the company, it’s not without some growing pains.
When you change your online ID, you will be given the option to also display your old one along with your new ID so that your friends will be able to recognize you. Whether you decide to display your old ID or not, you will not be able to reverse the decision after completing the PSN ID change process.
How this will work when displaying your ID in multiplayer games is a bit more limited. Sony states that this feature will be compatible with games published after April 1, 2018, and only some of the most-played PS4 games before this date.
This feature is compatible with PS4 games originally published after April 1, 2018, and a large majority of the most-played PS4 games that were released before this date. However, please note not all games and applications for PS4, PS3 and PS Vita systems are guaranteed to support the online ID change, and users may occasionally encounter issues or errors in certain games.
Once this feature launches, a list of compatible games published before April 1, 2018, will be made available.
Players will be able to change their name once for free, however additional name changes after the first will cost a small fee. Non-PlayStation Plus members will be charged $9.99 per additional name change, while PlayStation Plus members only have to pay $4.99. You will be able to change your online ID through the settings menu or your profile.
This feature is set to come first to the PlayStation Preview Program and will be made available to select users that have pre-registered as testers for previous PS4 system software betas. Though Sony did not reveal a specific date at which this will begin, the company did say that the testing process for this feature will end in late November. A full roll-out to all PlayStation users in planned for early 2019.