Rumor: Sony is preparing to let you change your PSN username

That embarrassing tag from 2006 could be gone soon...

It's one of the most commonly requested new PlayStation features, and it sounds like Sony might finally be about to put it into action. We're talking, of course, about the option to change your PSN username.

Sony brought in these usernames way back in 2006 with the Japanese launch of the PlayStation 3 and the persistent online ecosystem of the PlayStation Network. However, whatever name you chose back then is the name you're still stuck with today. Pretty awkward if teenaged-you thought it'd be pretty sweet to be known online as _xXDARKMASTERBLUNTZZZXx_.

According to new reporting from Kotaku, the ability to edit that cringey old username is now in testing. The site has anonymous confirmation from three different people at different studios that they are bugtesting the feature and making sure it doesn't break online functionality and other systems. A fourth source supplied a screengrab showing a PSN profile with an "edit username" option next to it.

The article also explains why progress on this seemingly simple problem has been so slow. Turns out that PSN links your account ID directly to your username, rather than an independent unique identification code. As such, allowing players to change their name potentially causes issues with every online and multiplayer game released on PlayStation over the last twelve years.

Xbox users, on the other hand, have had no such problems. Xbox Live offers one name change free, but charges $8 to make subsequent changes - in order to prevent mischief makers from constantly changing their name to wreak havoc in games without being detected.

There's no timeframe on when Sony's name change feature will be formally announced, or go live, but at least we know they're working on it.

Dan has been playing games since the 1980s, and doesn't plan on stopping any time soon. Also, get off his lawn. You can contact him by email if you need to know exactly how to leave his lawn.

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