Sony has announced that they will be slowing download speeds for PlayStation players in the United States. This change will only affect download speed and will not affect gameplay at all, which is expected to continue working at the same level.
Sony had the following to say in their announcement:
“Beginning today, we will take similar measures in the United States, and we will continue to take appropriate action to do our part to help ensure internet stability as this unprecedented situation continues to evolve. We are grateful for the role we play in helping deliver a sense of community and entertainment in these very trying times. Thank you again for your support, your patience, and for being part of the PlayStation community. Please stay home and stay safe.”
UPDATE: SIE is working with internet service providers in Europe to help preserve access for the entire internet community: https://t.co/nPJH13ana4 pic.twitter.com/W9cO6yIolf
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) March 24, 2020
The announcement mentions “similar measures,” which relates to them slowing speeds in for players in Europe already. Sony made the decision to begin slowing download speeds for European players a few days ago on March 24th before now bringing this same measure to the United States.
“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 said in their original statement. By committing to these measures, Sony is hoping to help stop servers from becoming overloaded and failing amidst all of the quarantining and social distancing, as more players than ever before are now using online services.
Sony is far from the only company doing this, though. Companies like YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon all have been lowering streaming quality to lower the heavy toll it takes on servers.
So what should you expect from this? Players are likely to experience slower downloads (including updates) but will continue to enjoy their games in the same quality. Many players have been complaining that they don’t want to have to deal with lag and that this will negatively impact their online experience, but the truth is that these measures will not affect your online experience in any way. If you’ve been seeing headlines of Sony purposefully hindering online performance with these measures, feel free to discard them.
There’s a good chance that Sony, and many other companies, will be spreading these measures to other locations as well. With Europe and the United States having them implemented, however, that’s already a massive amount of the PlayStation player base dealt with.
