Jared is a writer, editor, and communications graduate who loves popular nerd culture (almost anything to do with Marvel, DC, Star Wars, or Lord of the Rings) and interactive storytelling medium. Jared’s first console was the PS1, on which he fell in love with Spider-Man, Spyro the Dragon and Crash Bandicoot.
Brands are reinforced by traditional naming conventions that impose themselves and can be weakened when they make seemingly arbitrary and alarming changes, as is the case with PlayStation apparently throwing a piece of his trademark synonymous with his online services. It seems that The PlayStation Network will have a new name this fall, and fans aren’t particularly happy with the decision.
According to Insider gamesan email sent to developers explains that “Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has strategically decided to phase out the terms “PlayStation Network” and “PSN” across the market. [the] platform in order to properly capture the extent of [its] evolving digital services.“Now, accumulating a lot of buzz about Redditusers share their opinions on how the PlayStation Network branding could take shape.
Apparently PlayStation is looking to change its name
It’s not uncommon for businesses to occasionally revise their branding; HBO, for example, has gone through a turbulent period recently, bouncing back HBO Max to Max and back to HBO Max again. Still, fans have been talking a lot about this news, wondering why the PlayStation Network brand requires a change in the first place.
For example, Reddit user MrTreezx claims: “PSN… Clean, cut and simple. What is [f***] why this change?» User Aileos, however, is not perturbed because he believes that it will not make any difference: “Whatever they choose, I’m sure it will be like Twitter becoming X. Everyone will say PSN..”
Amusingly, some of the half-joking, half-serious names fans have thrown around on Reddit include: “PlayStation Live” “Sonyverse,” And “PlayStation Max“, yet user Rubbernub and many others believe PlayStation Network branding will simply be integrated into PS Plus, especially if the overall goal is to “simplify and unify the brand image“, as the email states. As for how the suite of online services will be affected, fans need not worry.
What does this mean for PlayStation Network?
Effectively, nothing will change functionally on the PlayStation Network. As the email purportedly states: “The upcoming changes are purely visual and will not introduce any technical changes to our offers.,” And “All features currently associated with PSN, including mainnet features such as Friends, Multiplayer, and Trophies, will remain unchanged and available to players..”
This is great news for anyone who doesn’t want to see the actual features of PlayStation digital services tampered with. And if its branding changes with a new name for PlayStation Network, it will be interesting to see how well received it will be by the system’s community, or if it will be colloquially referred to as PSN regardless.
- Brand
- Sony
- Original release date
- June 29, 2010
- Original MSRP (USD)
- $59.99 (Essential), $99.99 (Extra), $119.99 (Premium) – Annually
- App store
- PlayStation Store