PlayStation 4 Will Allow You to Make More Friends than Ever Before

Perfect if you're Mr. Popular

by Sammy Barker Wed 27th Mar 2013

Soon you won’t need to play ‘Eeeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe’ to decide who should occupy the last spot on your PlayStation Network friends list. During a panel at GDC earlier today, Sony’s senior staff engineer Chris Norton confirmed that the PlayStation 4 will increase the number of contacts that you can store. While the platform holder didn’t reveal the new limit, it did note that it will be bigger than the PlayStation 3’s current 100 person cap.

Elsewhere in the presentation, Norton explained that you’ll be able to link your PSN profile with your Facebook account. Doing so will require you to use your real name, which could prove a problem if you don’t want anyone to know about your shameful Call of Duty skills. Interestingly, your username will now be linked to a controller rather than a single console, meaning that you’ll be able to login on other systems without a problem.

Each game will come with an information area built into the user interface, which will allow you to peruse the latest comments and content pertaining to that particular title. Meanwhile, a separate ‘Digest’ screen will reveal what your friends are up to on their console. It's almost like George Orwell's apocalyptic vision of the future has finally come true – albeit 29 years late.

[source polygon.com]

As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He’s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time to dedicate to them, and is a bit of a gacha whale.

1
CrazyOtto
Wed 27th Mar 2013

Nice, I've alway been bothered by the 100 friend only thing.

2
get2sammyb
Wed 27th Mar 2013

@MrSRArter I've yet to hit the cap to be honest, but it's nice to know they're increasing it. From what I understand, it can cause technical headaches in games if the system isn't designed with the increase in mind, so I hope they raise it to a big number from the off.

3
Epic
Wed 27th Mar 2013

I've never met 100 people with a PS3 so it still doesn't bother me.

4
irken004
Wed 27th Mar 2013

From what I've read. I believe having facebook connected to an account lets you search by real-name for users, but it uses the PSN account name when gaming. I think

5
Splat
Wed 27th Mar 2013

I rarely play online so I don't have very many friends. I've been meaning to add a few just because I like seeing what people are playing and comparing trophies.

I don't like the thought of using my real name for gaming...

6
get2sammyb
Wed 27th Mar 2013

@irken004 From what I can tell, adding your real name is optional. By default, it will just show your PSN alias. But if you connect your Facebook account, you'll have to show your real name (or, at the very least, your Facebook name). Once you link your own real name, you'll be able to see everyone else's.

So, if you don't have your own real name or Facebook account linked to your account, then you won't be able to see other people's real names either.

7
Ginkgo
Wed 27th Mar 2013

Never really did much with friends on the ps3 (only have 3). Always assumed it was more for multiplayer, which I don't do very much of.

8
Astroshamu
Wed 27th Mar 2013

Ive never had more than 6 friends on any online game console so not a big deal for me, what do you even do with so many friends? Do you even talk to each of them?

9
get2sammyb
Wed 27th Mar 2013

I personally love seeing what everyone's playing. It's the first thing I do when I turn on my machine.

10
Splat
Wed 27th Mar 2013

@get2sammyb - Same here.

11
ShogunRok
Thu 28th Mar 2013

Yeah in total honesty I don't know how half of my friends ended up on my list, let alone know who or what they are. I just like the feeling of being connected to other gamers I suppose.