One of the big stories in the PlayStation Nation this week was that according to reputable sources, the ability to change your PlayStation Network username is finally heading our way. When? We're not entirely sure yet, but reports say that some developers have been told all about it.
If this really is happening, though, will you actually make use of the option? Do you have a PSN name that you desperately want to change, or will you just keep what you've got? As always, let us know in our polls, and then tell us all about your embarrassing username in the comments section below.
Would you change your PSN username if you had the option? (325 votes)
- Yes, definitely
- Yeah, I'd probably change it
- Hmmm, maybe
- Nah, probably not
- No, I'd keep the one I have
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Why would you change your username? (311 votes)
- The one I have right now has not aged well
- I have a better username in mind
- I just fancy a change
- I wouldn't change my username to begin with
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Comments 80
i wouldn't because i actually thought about mine and chose a sensible name instead of picking one i thought would be funny
I got get2sammyb so I'm never going to change it, but I do understand why people want to.
I'm good with the one I have now. It's the alias I have for pretty much all of my online accounts except work related, including my Push Square account, and I've had that alias for more than 15 years now. I put thought into the name, so there's no need to devote new brain cells to remembering a new one.
I want to change! My username doesn't fit me anymore since I mostly go online as AFCC nowadays anyway
Noooope.
Xena4ever... for ever.
Mine is a reference to Devil May Sly, the name of a music track from God Hand, which itself is a reference to Devil May Cry.
I may change it to something more personal.
Lacerz is as Lacerz does. No changes needed.
On a side note, I told my son about the possibility to change his user ID, which I thought he’d be interested in since I set his account up and picked his user ID. He said he’s good with what he has.
I won't be - and honestly, I'm not sure if you should be able to.
I will be changing mine when we are able to.
I went with a pretty generic combination of letters and numbers that mean something to me, but nothing to everybody else. In other words, I played it safe.
Now, if I'd gone with my original idea of "Captain_Underpants_47" then it'd be a different story.
But I didn't, so I won't be changing, no.
Mine has a meaning how many years I had when I subscribed and my name. Therefore it means something to me. Its also the same I use on this site
Also, I think the vast majority of replies saying "what I've got has become comfortable" or "I don't wanna have to remember something new" simply tells me that Push Square is populated by a bunch of gracefully-ageing realists, resigned to the steady march of time and its irreversible impact on our existence.
Or, y'know, something cheery.
Of course I won't change it. I will be Belmont forever!!
Nah my username is awesome, so I'll keep it.
@get2sammyb You just wish you can get rid of the _ from your twitter
Wouldn't it be funny... not 'ha ha' funny, but 'hmmm, eye roll' funny... if not a single person changed their PSN name when this feature becomes available. All that time and effort and money...
Not gonna happen though, I can see plenty people taking advantage of this. Plus, Sony stands to make plenty of bank if they charge for multiple name changes after the first one is free. Kinda like a drug dealer, the first hit is free
Moral of the story: Don't be dumb, kids. Put some thought into your online aliases. It may come back to bite you in the rump in the future.
My reason for changing isn't that glorious.
When I created my PSN ID, I didn't realize you could capitalize the letters.
So my username will simply capitalize my first letter.
Mine is roe617 and will stay that way for the foreseeable future. Ironically if I was to change one of my usernames anywhere, it'd be on Xbox as mine is currently Roe617 on it but I'd actually like the R to be uncapitalized, just don't care enough to pay to change it.
I think it'll be great for those that want to change theirs though.
Mine is Street Fighter related, made solely to download Alpha 3 onto my PSP when I was in grade 5. I don’t mind it, but I’d like to change it to what I use for all of my other accounts.
My username is the same on PSN as it is on here. Deadlyblack.
Actually, it's the same on pretty much everything I use, so I'll never change it. I've had this username since ~2005 or so.
My Japanese PSN name is the name I wanted to change my US name too. I guess now I have the best of both worlds. I really don't care.
@naruball
Haha, just kiddin'.
@adf86 Yes I bloody well do.
If my back was up against the wall and I had to change my name for my YouTube videos or something (like if I monetized and got in trouble for using an obvious Godzilla thing), then maybe I would change it on PSN. As it stands, I'm not going to.
I would but @LaNooch1978 his grandma took the name I wanted...
My prediction is that after they roll this out, there will be all kinds of unforeseen technical glitches associated with it and if you change it then you’ll lose purchases, subscriptions, trophies, cloud save data, not be able to log in, etc, etc. It will be interesting to see.
Same as my name on here and for Xbox live but with a _ between the UK I ain't changing it at all
My PSN Name is a holdover from the PS Forums, a service I joined when I was 13. Since I can't go back in time to slap Past-me silly, I'll just have to make do with changing my old godawful username.
@Turismo4GT @FullbringIchigo Some people.may not have had a choice of there online name if say they were a kid and a parent made their account years ago. Other people may have put some thought I their name and just simple outgrew it.
I may change to Giygas_95. I've kind of been choosing that name for all my online accounts (the entertainment ones, not things like say business related accounts) for unity's sake.
@Tasuki OH i understand that but lets be honest most of the people changing will be because they have a username like xXiHaveabigButtXx because they thought it was funny
@ZurapiiYohane off topic a bit but is your avatar miss kobayashi's dragon maid, it's a bit hard to see on my laptop
I changed mine when I got my PS4 rather than migrate my PS3 account over. I'm not a trophy hunter so it didn't matter.
Ill probably Change my old PS3 PSN name as I use it periodically but I'm happy with my name on PS4.
I picked an awful, unimaginative name as I didn't realise that was forever!!! I definitely would change if I got a shot, thought there's every chance I may be equally unimaginative again!!!
I might not have aged well but my ID reminds me of those lost years and I'm happy to keep it.
Incidentally, it's the same as my name here, so if anyone wants to hit me up for some online gaming feel free. I'm usually on FIFA 19, Battlefield 1, Rocket League, and Overwatch. And I'm spectacularly bad at all of them.
Don't know why, but these name change topics always remind me of what happened with Blizzard when they tied their games to a Bnet account. Everyone rushed in to get names like Raynor, Thrall and other big names from their games. Hilarity ensued when everyone realised there was an ID number generated for your account name so people could have the same name and 40 people all called Raynor were posting simultaneously on the forums about name changes.
Personally I didn't put much thought into my account name when I started it, but I wouldn't bother changing it, it isn't embarrassing and there is nothing to say a name I changed to wouldn't be treated equally ambivalently by me in a year or two.
@get2sammyb
So here's a follow up question even for those not wanting to change their PSN IDs...If you were to change your ID, what would you change it to?
I don't have any intention of changing my ID, but some of my alts I've gone with in the past are Ramajin, Tatonka and Shugyr.
@Tasuki fair enough point. I was looking at it from the perspective of an adult, who really should have the foresight and wisdom to choose wisely (I know all don't). Since I skipped the PS3 generation, I'm a relative newcomer to PSN, having only bought my PS4 in December 2015.
@lacerz if I were to ever change my PSN name, it would be T..... Hey, I see what you're tryna do here. Nice try 🤣
@Turismo4GT
Haha! My alts are open for anyone to use. I haven’t used them since my DDO days.
@RogerRoger too bad I already took Captain_Underpants_47!
Mine has not aged well...
A lot of people, me as well, were rushing to start up the system when unpacked it, but their preferred ID tag was already taken, so they had to choose generated one with some additional and unwanted digits or symbols. I've put my day of birth, but I didn't really wanted to do so as I wanted clean ID no digits/symbols, but all of them were taken, and I didn't have more patience to guess which is still available. But now I can do so, as I'm not rushing any more.
I have wanted this for ages so I would like to change my name from whatever it was when I first created to something more in keeping with my suave sophistication.
I'm still happy with my crimsontadpoles name. Being able to change your name should be an option, and I can understand why people would want to change theirs. Before I started using my current nickname, I did have use some much worse names on some forums.
@Neolit there a lot of users that care about this feature you have to understand that
No need, personally. Single word, no numbers, no once-cool phrases or misspelling that I regret.
yes i need this feature
Mine was pushed on me by dimwit mates when I first created a PSN account. So finally this is a nail to that toxic gaming group and the name I should have had at the beginning!
Why does the poll contradicts itself?
I will stick with the one I have, I've used the name flea since back in the 80's (Spelt Fle when limited to 3 letters) and added the sixty during the Flea Sixty.... Sorry 360 days.
I would change mine to xXiHaveabigButtXx.
But nah seriously I wouldn't change mine, it's a little bit personal to me so would leave it as it is.
@LaNooch1978 it will be an optional extra probably so you won't need to pay them to keep your current one.
@ellsworth004 Blimey, bullet dodged then!
I wonder who the other 46 are?
My mate will, foofmagnet69. We told him to put anything and you can change it whenever that was about 10 years ago. Good times.
@FullbringIchigo Fair point but I also do believe that a fair amount of people that have bad names were kids who had no control. Remember that PSN has been around a long time. And alot of those users are older now and don't want a.name.their parents picked out
@Turismo4GT Right as I said a person who was a kid in say 2005 and had a parent make their account more then likely would want a new to reflect them now that they are older
gingerfrog may sound awful to some, but I got the name in the 90’s at parties doing far to many disco biscuits with friends. I’m neither ginger or a frog. but smashed people come up with great stuff and the name stuck. Also now I’m 42 with teenage kids it’s nice to remember a time when I had crazy nights with a consequence free future
My PSN username has been Acquiescence since 2009. I wouldn't change it if you paid me.
Okay, if you paid me £100, I'd change it.
I was thinking of something that wasn't just a stupid short term statement that nobody will care about in 6 months. So far I've come up with SayNoToBrexit or TheresaMayDancingQueen as possibilities.
While adding name changes may have been a hard challenge for Sony. The real challenge will be finding one you want today that's not taken already. Chances are your going to have to compromise and pick something your going to want to change again.
I kinda wish they'd add account merging (I know this will never happen.) I given up on Sony 4 years ago and made a new account. I had no idea what I was thinking 11years ago when I made my original PSN name. I was actually more creative back then but chose something so unoriginal.
Well I might try to change it, when I created mine, the one I wanted for some reason it wasn't allowed, not used, allowed. Maybe now I can use it eheh.
Was once HipHopGodd. Outgrew HipHop because it’s sh!t now. So I chose FentonCrackshell. Don’t know what do do next. I think the one I want is already used.
If i change i will wait for all the dust to settle and any problems to be fixed.
What will happen with all the names that are dumped for new names? Will those previously used names be available to use again? If so then maybe the new name we changed to was used before.
Not really, unless I found new interesting psn name, it's nice to have the option to change it though.
Hmm... I suppose I could be tempted to change mine as I tried a bit too hard to be clever when I first set it up so it doesn’t feel as genuine as my user ID here, but I’ve had it for years now and I’ve just got accustomed to it. It’s a bit trying-to-be-cool-but-failing, but I guess that’s a reasonable description of me anyway! (it’s LadyChatsalot for those of you wanting a good chuckle 😁)
mines easy to remember so im sticking with hhhgfdswertyyjj
I'd love to change my username, hoping this becomes reality.
I was young at the time and my ID does not reflect who I am right now. Wanna change @scumbag to @superscumbag
Mine isn't the worst by any means. I gave it some thought but I don't like it having my real name, sort of. I have a perfect name in mind and I'm pretty sure it's available since it has an unusual combination of letters.
Mine is based off a favorite book series, luckily it is still one of my favorites.
@get2sammyb How much do you think it will it cost to change your PSN name?
@General_Spiller No idea, man.
I made my old name back in high school (9th grade) and I'm about to graduate college in half a year. A less weird username would be much appreciated.
My current one is a school nickname barely anyone knows, so I'd change it just for kicks.
Nope. Not my main account anyways. My name is perfectly fine.
I'm satisfied with all 3 of my region accounts ta very much.
Sum1 else choose mine. Damn i kno PSN gonna make u pay tho
ACE_GAMER7 is not a decision I’m very fond of.
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