Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmed has shared an official notice from PlayStation in China, informing users that the PlayStation Store has been temporarily suspended for “security upgrades.” At the time of this writing, there was no ETA for when the services will resume and what “security upgrades” means is unclear.
What’s peculiar here is that Ahmed claims that an “Xbox fanboy” revealed on Weibo – China’s biggest social media platform – that he reported PSN to authorities for having “backdoor elements” that allow users to access PSN services overseas. The service was apparently taken down shortly after the Weibo user’s confession.
The PlayStation Store (PSN) has been temporarily suspended in Mainland China from 7am on May 10. No time or date given for resumption of services.
The official reason given is to carry out security upgrades. But it is unclear what this means exactly. pic.twitter.com/ZoU71zR9tX
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) May 10, 2020
The only reason I’m posting is this, and i kid you not, is because an Xbox fanboy claimed on Weibo that they reported to authorities about certain back door elements that are easily accessible to switch to overseas services. Was taken down right after.
So let’s see what happens.
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) May 10, 2020
The China store only has officially approved games.
If anything it’s to investigate possible back doors for overseas PSN services.
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) May 10, 2020
A number of Chinese users have since investigated the “fanboy” in question and have found that he has several Weibo accounts that he uses to troll and boast about his actions. However, it remains unclear if his false reports are the reason PSN was taken offline.
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