The PlayStation 4 is finally getting one of its most-requested features

Sony

The PlayStation 4's online service, PlayStation Network (PSN), hasn't allowed users to change their username since its inception on Sony's previous PlayStation console.

• Sony is finally giving PlayStation 4 owners a long-requested feature: the ability to change their PlayStation Network IDs.
• PSN IDs are essentially online usernames on the PS4 - a holdover from the PlayStation 3 era of Sony game consoles.
• Due to the way that PSN was built, there was no way to change your PSN ID without losing everything tied to it: game purchases, saves, Trophy data, friends, and much more.
• Starting on April 10, PS4 users can finally change their PSN names.
• Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.

Sony's finally giving users one of the most-requested PlayStation 4 features: the ability to change their online name.

The PlayStation 4's online service, PlayStation Network (PSN), hasn't allowed its tens of millions of users to change their username since its inception on Sony's previous PlayStation console.

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That means any games purchased, friends made, and cloud saves uploaded are tied to whatever PSN ID users signed up with originally. Choosing a new one means losing all that stuff, going all the way back to the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita.

It's not a great situation.

Ben Gilbert / Business Insider

The PlayStation 4 Slim (back) and PlayStation 4 Pro (front).

And that's why it's such a big deal that Sony's finally enabling the ability to alter PSN names.

Starting on April 10, anyone with a PlayStation 4 and a PSN ID is able to change their name for free one time. Any additional name changes will cost $10.

The change can be made on a PlayStation 4 console or through a web browser; unfortunately, there's no way to change your PSN ID through PlayStation 3 or Vita consoles.

Due to the way that Sony built the PlayStation Network, there are some strange caveats with the name change. Most notably, any games published before April 1, 2018 may encounter strange issues if you change your PSN ID. "A large majority of the most-played PS4 games that we tested support the [name change] feature," Sony said in a blog post announcing the change. "We expect major issues to occur only in a small number of games."

So, what kind of "major issues" might you encounter?

Here's Sony's list:

• "Your previous Online ID may remain visible to you and other players in some areas.
• You may lose progress within games, including game saved data, leaderboard data, and progress towards Trophies.
• Parts of your game and applications may not function properly both online and offline.
• You may lose access to content (including paid-for content) that you may have acquired for your games including content like add-ons and virtual currency."

Sony also put together a list of games with known issues for anyone who's worried about encountering them, which you can find right here.