PSN Goes Down Across US and Europe [Update: Service Restored]

The PlayStation Network has gone offline unexpectedly across numerous countries, limiting access and services on PlayStation 4, PS Vita and PlayStation 3.

Affected countries include the US, the UK, Spain, Italy, Germany, Greece and Australia. How global the problem has become is not yet clear. However, some gamers within these regions say they are not seeing any issues.

In a statement sent to GameSpot, Sony said: "We are aware of some Network connectivity issues this morning. Our engineers are currently investigating and we will update when more information is available."

On PS4 in the UK, gamers can browse the PlayStation Store and download certain apps but accessing a game's server is not possible. In some cases this means digital games cannot be played, as they need to be verified online.

Meanwhile, on PS Vita, the Store is inaccessible. One error code that gamers have begun to report is "8071053D" which is associated with connection problems. The PlayStation App is also inaccessible, and similar network issues have affected PS3.

Update 1: On the games forum NeoGAF, users in Europe have started to suggest the system is rebooting.

Update 2: Sony has told GameSpot that its engineers are looking into the issue.

Update 3: Chris Owen, Sony's EU community manager, has said the issue has been resolved: