Sony ‘switching off a couple of PSN features’ for European PS4 launch

UK PS4 owners will get a little less from the PSN on launch day, which happens to be this Friday, 29 November. Sony’s official European blog posted a statement which says that two features will be disabled until the launch madness dies down. The two features are “What’s New” and “Contact Information Screen”.

Following the successful launch of PS4 in North America on the 15th November, we have seen an unprecedented influx of players onto PSN. When we launch in Europe on Friday, once again, we are expecting record sales and record numbers of people logging onto PSN at similar times, alongside the North American players already on PSN.

We want to make sure that your online experience is positive. To help ensure that this happens, we have made the decision to switch off a couple of features for European customers on day one. These features will then be switched back on a few days later, once the intensity of launch day calms down.

“What’s New” shows off all PSN friend activity. Think of it as Twitter and Facebook combined into a gaming social feed. “Contact Information Screen” displays PSN friend activity based on title’s searched for on the PS4. Don’t stress about anything else being disabled though, says the blog. “Not to worry, all of the other features of PSN will be fully available on day one. You’ll be able to play online multiplayer games with friends and your gaming community, get trophies, make friends and share videos and live broadcast your games so you can have a great online gaming experience.”

Sony’s next-gen console, the PS4 goes on sale for £349 in Europe and is already on sale in the States for US$399.