Game company Sony Interactive Entertainment has officially announced that a highly-sought feature of their subscribers will be coming soon: the PSN Name change.
PSN Name Change is now real
Sony just officially announced the PSN Online ID Change and the beta will start first in the PlayStation Preview Program. This will include select users that have participated in the previous system software betas.
The game company revealed that the first change will be a freebie for all players to enjoy. The next ones however will have to cost $9.99 for the regular PlayStation Network members. The PlayStation Plus members will get a discount and pay only $4.99. The Europe version will be at €9.99/£7.99 for regular PSN members, and €4.99/£3.99 for PlayStation Plus subscribers.
There is also the option of displaying the old name after changing it so that it will allow others to recognize the players who did so. This will be a one-time decision and will be irreversible afterwards.
One catch
There is only one catch for this awesome announcement: The name change will only be compatible with all games published after April 1, 2018. There is also the condition of the compatibility with the large majority of the most-played PS4 games that were released before April 1.
This will be a problem for other players who have PS4, PS3, and PS Vita consoles since not most of those games and applications are guaranteed to be compatible. There is a high chance that they will encounter issues or errors in certain games after changing their names. They can still revert back to the original name for free at any time, which is a relief. This will solve most of the issues.
Do not worry though: Sony will be providing everyone with a full list of compatible games so that they can plan ahead. The preview program will end in November and the officially launching of the feature will be in early 2019.
Source: PlayStation Blog