PlayStation 4 users could finally get to change their PSN name, report suggests

Rumours started after a mysterious update arrived on consoles recently

A hostess holds a remote of a Playstation 4 at the Sony booth during the China Joy fair in Shanghai (JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/Getty Images)

PlayStation players might finally be able to change their embarrassing PSN names, according to a series of leaks.

Many gamers have found themselves lumbered with old and shameful usernames that they have to carry around with them through games and while playing people. On the PlayStation, there's no way to change them, leaving people stuck with the IDs – and since PlayStation Network began in 2006, some of those IDs are very embarrassing indeed.

But Sony might be working on a way for people to finally get rid of those embarrassing names, according to a series of leaks.

Rumours that the feature was coming first arrived when consoles downloaded the 6.0 firmware update: despite having a significant sounding name, the update did not really bring any major features at all.

Some suggested that was because the main feature – the ability to get a new ID – was hiding until it was ready and Sony announced it.

Now gaming website Kotaku reports that three people at three different unnamed gaming studios have told it that the feature is coming. They have been working on their games to ensure the change doesn't bring new bugs or cause problems for existing games.

It still isn't clear when the feature will come out. And it could still take some time, since Sony is thought to have not implemented the feature at least in part because allowing a change of username could cause significant problems with games that players have already started on.

At last year's PlayStation experience event at the end of 2017, Sony boss Shawn Layden said that he would not need to be asked that question next year, leading some to hope the name changing problem would be fixed by the end of this year. But Sony recently announced that event won't be happening this year.