Vita limited to one PSN log-in per console - report

By Tom Phillips Published 5 December, 2011

Must format to factory settings to change it.

PlayStation Vita will only support one PlayStation Network account per console, a new report suggests.

Each Vita unit will be locked to allow just one PSN log-in, meaning you'll have to share your name and Trophy cabinet with friends and family members.

The information comes from a Sony leaflet distributed at a pre-launch Vita event in Japan, picked up by NeoGAF (via Joystiq.

The only way around the issue is to reset the console to its factory settings, the leaflet specified.

The move effectively region-locks downloadable content on Vita, as you won't be allowed multiple PSN accounts. As it stands, European gamers can, with a little creativity, create Japanese and US PSN accounts, enabling them to access content there.

Eurogamer has contacted Sony for confirmation - we'll update when we hear back.

Should you buy PlayStation Vita? Sony and its studios recently gave EGTV their pitch.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Phillips

Tom joined Eurogamer in 2010 and has quickly made his mark writing news and columns and coming up with puntastic straplines. Questionable beard.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Phillips archive page.

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Comments (50) Latest comment 3 months ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Markitron #1 3 months ago

    Physical copies of every game for me so, although its a shame I can hardly blame them

  • Moz #2 3 months ago

    Apart from the regional content thing, is this really going to effect that many people? I've never seen portal consoles as something you tend to share that much.

    But lets hope most games at least allow multiple saves.

  • JohnnyWashnGo #3 3 months ago

    Another reason to not go digital for games, besides the inevitably high price tag.

  • NotSoSlim #4 3 months ago

    Well Vita digital games are meant to be cheaper so if thats the case not fussed by this

  • abigsmurf #5 3 months ago

    It's a pain but it isn't a killer.

    Do a full backup of your current setup, format, switch region (possibly restore from a backup of that region).

    You'll still be able to switch from US to EU etc., you just need to spend 10 minutes or so to do it.

  • NeOne303 #6 3 months ago

    What if you are sharing one? Both myself and my missus have a PSN ID... looks like she is going without!

  • retr0gamer #7 3 months ago

    This will be a pain but at least it doesn't lock me out of importing from the Japanese and US store. I can live with it.

  • Kill_Crazy #8 3 months ago

    There'll be plenty of people saying that this is their reason to cancel but will it really matter? Not to me.

  • des #9 3 months ago

    fail

    Vita bad news keep piling

  • RandomTerrain #10 3 months ago

    If the games are cheaper to download then I don't mind. Otherwise I may as well buy physical copies. Up to you Sony, I know downloads will make you much more money if you're smart with the pricing, so give us the incentive this time and stop worrying so much about upsetting highstreet stores.

  • patch #11 3 months ago

    Seems EG is about 2 days behind the news.

    Edit: Might be worth noting that as all game data etc. is stored on game cards or memory cards, you won't lose much by doing a factory reset?
    Edited by 1 at 05/12/11 @ 16:47

  • A_Nonny #12 3 months ago

    Can't we just download other region's content on our PS3 and transfer it to the Vita?

  • Toothball #13 3 months ago

    This is kind of why I have only a Euro PSN account and a long list of complaints, rather than three accounts. I was more interested in seeing the Euro branch of PSN get the same level of service as the US and JP ones. And while having multiple accounts serves a short term purpose, it's not surprising that they caught on to it eventually.

    If somehow they decide to treat Europe as an actual territory this time, rather than as a buck-toothed second cousin that no one talks to, it might not be much of an issue. I'm fully expecting my list to get longer though.

  • Toothball #14 3 months ago

    @EddieMink

    I dunno, it's possible that a man and woman could meet over their shared views of the Vita's account status and go on to create new gamers.

  • Widge #15 3 months ago

    Here is a perspective.

    I have a US account full of PSone games as the PAL conversions were legendary for being poor, borders and sluggish. Also have the US only Jeanne D'Arc. Clearly I want to have my US account as the main one.

    So what stops me? Well to take advantage of a scenario where I have a PSP and PS3, I'm going to want PSN+ too. This means US PSN+ and incompatibility with and DLC discounts/freebies for my UK games. So that there is a staller.

    It's not an accident or a stupid omission, totally driven by marketing and content control and ROI by region. I just wish this was driven by consumer.

    Most digital content seems to work this way sadly, it's just it's so easy to get a workaround for the content on PSN!

  • Widge #16 3 months ago

    @lollage Yep. Try playing a US PSP game on a PSP with a uk account on it and it gives you a big fat no.

    The main difference now is it is being made deliberately more inconvenient to do the swapping.

  • GamesConnoisseur #17 3 months ago

    So instead of faffing about, I need to get two Vita to access my hefty backlog of PSP contents in both US and UK PSN accounts?! What a fucking treat to those who, maybe not sensibly, BUT did a lot to support Sony in different regions!!

  • Okamiwolf #18 3 months ago

    They're repeating the same mistake they made on PSP. Real shame. In fact, I don't see much difference anymore between this and the PSP aside from the touch screen and 2nd analog stick. Expect similar retail performance for better or worse.

  • Cjail #19 3 months ago

    Region locked can be a problem also for Europeans that buy from UK: sometimes, in fact, UK versions have a different BLES code than the European and so DLC won't work unless downloaded from the UK store.
    Luckily this is not the "rule" but it happend already.
    Edited by 1 at 05/12/11 @ 17:20

  • Marshall2008 #20 3 months ago

    Looks like Sony are on a major push to get all of the negative Vita news out this week.

    Add this article to the list below:
    Weird upscaling of PS3 remote play games (streamed at 480x272 then upscaled to 960x544).
    No Mac support for putting content onto Vita. No mass storage support, you have to use PS3 or Special software on PC.
    No support for video in 1080p.
    Custom Memory sticks at daft prices.
    Edited by 1 at 05/12/11 @ 17:18

  • jonbwfc #21 3 months ago

    I'm sorry, but some of you guys are in the beds you made. Sony have never officially supported running digital downloads from different regions on one device. In fact they've gone quite far to discourage it (like banning the use of 'prepay' credit cards to buy stuff on PSN for example). You just cannot bitch about Sony not supporting it now. They never have, they never said they would. If you bought a ton of stuff on the US PSN while living in the UK, you took a risk. Turns out, you got burned. But that's the way it goes sometimes.

    Jon

  • Dreadaxe #22 3 months ago

    @JohnnyWashnGo they're meant to be 40% cheaper than retail.
    Edited by 1 at 05/12/11 @ 17:26

  • Malek86 #23 3 months ago

    This is getting a lot like the 3DS: after the initial enthusiasm, bad news are piling up one after the other.

  • tinyspark #24 3 months ago

    Ach... This is the same kind of restrictive shite that makes blu rays such a pain in the arse to play.

  • A_Nonny #25 3 months ago

    "No, cos it's tied to the account that downloaded it."

    You can play things downloaded on other accounts though. On the PS3 at least.

  • DodgyPast #26 3 months ago

    Bigger. Having just swapped region I'm stuffed.

    Now it's time to wait and see how the hackers get on.

  • alcides #27 3 months ago

    They're just being fucking assholes since you can always reset the console. Why not allow multiple accounts, then? Even Apple offers to merge existing accounts.

  • rojjer #28 3 months ago

    its like they want hacker groups to hack their console

  • jonsaan #29 3 months ago

    That's really, really poor. Although not the end of the world.

  • mattrix33 #30 3 months ago

    It's a little loop hole plugged...with digital distribution being at the core of vitas sales plan for Sony ,you can't blaime them for locking this down.

  • sfp_noodle #31 3 months ago

    The original PSP had the same issue although I strictly bought and still buy all my PSOne games from my US account as they are much much better. Never had an issue running a UK UMD disc whilst logged in using my US account though, that's probably a digital download only issue.

    I don't see a problem personally. If and when I get a Vita it will be linked to my US account as they always get the best prices and games. Plus PSOne games are the only things I download for my portable consoles. Retail games have never been an issue thanks to no region locking on the console so I don't really see any real problem here.

  • Ryze #32 3 months ago

    FOOLS!

    :)

  • Widge #33 3 months ago

    You can see the mentality though, you are meant to by the content from your own regional store, so this SHOULD be a non-issue. Its just we all quite happily found a way to circumvent it with emailed codes and Entropay cards registered at 90210 addresses.

  • Nazo #34 3 months ago

    Bah, it's like someone at Sony is deliberately creating negatives to counterbalance the good press it's getting. God forbid they make a product universally loved.

    Downloads not such an issue for me but I wonder if patches will be affected?

  • Rodster #35 3 months ago

    PS Vita...."the gift that just keeps giving and giving". :p

  • Mister-Wario #36 3 months ago

    @Widge If Sony want us to buy content from our own store they should make it available, surely. If it isn't available in our store it strikes me as pretty naive to just expect people to twiddle their thumbs and accept it.

  • alexbulluk #37 3 months ago

    If (ok, when) I get a Vita, I won't be doing much sharing.

  • bcxixa10 #38 3 months ago

    PSP also had this , whats the problem ?

  • DodgyPast #39 3 months ago

    @Widge

    What happens you actually move?

    Do I just throw away all my EU content?

    At least with steam I keep everything I already own while seeing the regional store.

    Yet another reason I make the PC my primary platform.

  • orangpelupa #40 3 months ago

    @rojjer Yeah hoping the hacker can make CFW as close as the OFW but circumventing the PSN ID limit. So it not enable piracy, and hopefully sony not getting hostile with the CFW.

    It will be bad for them if the hack use memorycard, and sony decided to disable them (just kiding)

    stupid conspiraci theory (really, this is NOT serious) : maybe thats their plan. If VITA got hacked, then if VITA economy performance is like PSP, SONY can blame the hackers again.

  • Biker_Bob_1971 #41 3 months ago

    Post deleted at 16:59:10 06-02-2012

  • orangpelupa #42 3 months ago

    @Biker_Bob_1971 but microsoft is worse

    you cant play JP games in US Xbox. xbox only region free when you install it with custom dashboard

  • Beano #43 3 months ago

    @orangpelupa Agreed - I don't know how MS is better in this area since most 360 games are region locked. All PS3 and PSP games are region free, and Vita games will also be region free. This limitation sounds more to be a way to prevent game sharing, than to region lock the console. If Sony really wanted to prevent imports, they would have region locked Vita in the first place.
    That said, I think the limitation is silly and only gives hackers another alibi to hack the console.
    Edited by 1 at 06/12/11 @ 08:27

  • TheLastProphet #44 3 months ago

    I have to agree with the comment from des. Since the Vita was first revealed every piece of information regarding the console has been extremely negative for gamers, from pricing, to memory cards, and now this. All these factors will surely result in the creation of a group of people dedicated to hacking the Vita to get around all these restrictions.

  • neosalad #45 3 months ago

    @Beano it's not microsofts decision to region lock the games but the software publishers, it's been said before, microsoft gave them the option.

    As the rights to the games can vary in different countries.

    Sony on the otherhand have a region free machine (such as psp or ps3, but they effectivley BAN PLAY-ASIA from importing to the uk by threatening with a lawsuit...
    remember what happened to lik-sang for selling sony games to uk/eur peeps?
    so why bother having a region free machine/games when they do that?


    R.I.P lik-sang
    Edited by 2 at 06/12/11 @ 09:11

  • Beano #46 3 months ago

    it's not microsofts decision to region lock the games but the software publishers, it's been said before, microsoft gave them the option.
    True - but it's not relevant whether it's MS or the publishers that are to be blamed. The fact is most 360 games are region locked.
    Besides, if MS wanted 360 games to be region free, they should not have made region-locking up to the publishers to decide.

    Sony on the otherhand have a region free machine (such as psp or ps3, but they effectivley BAN PLAY-ASIA from importing to the uk by threatening with a lawsuit...
    remember what happened to lik-sang for selling sony games to uk/eur peeps?
    so why bother having a region free machine/games when they do that?
    Good point - on the surface at least. My guess is they want consumers to be able to buy games and hardware when they are traveling or on vacation (especially relevant for portable consoles) but not other companies to make money by selling massive amounts of import hardware and screw up the marked for their partners and distributors. There's also a big difference in allowing imported games and imported hardware.

    If Sony wanted to stop (or severely) limit importing, they could just stop making their new platforms region-free. That would be very easy and most (mainstream) consumers would not care. But they haven't which we should be happy about.
    Edited by 2 at 06/12/11 @ 09:45

  • Lamb #47 3 months ago

    Lee Trevino is shaking his head. :(

  • Pacman8MyGhostkart #48 3 months ago

    @Moz

    "But lets hope most games at least allow multiple saves."

    I started gaming in a generation where we didn't have to "hope" for things like multiple save files. This is really not good enough, ALL consoles should be region free by now and not allowing more than one profile is frankly shambolic.

    Gaming has to get rid of this cartel mentality of apportioning off content by region.

  • Megacore #49 3 months ago

    Dealbreaker for me. If only for principle.

  • solidSnake04 #50 3 months ago

    You gotta love the way Minkley smiles as he asks if people are going to buy into Vita because of the huge success of smartphones (2:20)