- The main online service for the PlayStation 4 is reducing speeds, Sony Interactive Entertainment leader Jim Ryan announced this week.
- The move is part of a broader initiative to alleviate pressure on international networks as more people than ever are online due to the coronavirus pandemic.
- "We believe it is important to do our part to address internet stability concerns as an unprecedented number of people are practicing social distancing and are becoming more reliant on internet access," Ryan said. "Players may experience somewhat slower or delayed game downloads but will still enjoy robust gameplay."
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With over 100 million PlayStation 4 consoles out in the wild, Sony is making a small change that will have a massive impact: the company is reducing download speeds on PS4 in an effort to offset the massive increase in internet use across the past few weeks.
"We believe it is important to do our part to address internet stability concerns as an unprecedented number of people are practicing social distancing and are becoming more reliant on internet access," Sony Interactive Entertainment leader Jim Ryan said in a blog post on Tuesday.
As a result, Ryan said, "Players may experience somewhat slower or delayed game downloads but will still enjoy robust gameplay."
In short: Sony is slowing download speeds on the PlayStation 4, but online gaming should still function the same way it does usually.
The logic behind the move is directly tied to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which is impacting people all over the world. Students and workers are increasingly using the internet from home throughout the day, which is putting an unexpected strain on worldwide networks.
For now, the move appears to be aimed solely at European PlayStation 4 owners.
"Sony Interactive Entertainment is working with internet service providers in Europe to manage download traffic to help preserve access for the entire internet community," Ryan said in the post. It's unclear if download speeds in regions outside of Europe will be impacted; we've asked Sony, but have yet to hear back.
The move to slow download speeds on PlayStation 4 is similar to an earlier move from YouTube. Videos now default to standard definition resolution, which uses far less bandwidth than high definition and 4K resolution videos. Initially, that move only impacted Europe; later it was broadened worldwide.
It's unclear if Sony's competitors, Nintendo and Microsoft, will do the same thing with their online services - neither responded to requests for comment as of publishing.
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