Guide to Playing PS5 Games Offline: Tips and Tricks

The recent significant global outage affecting Sony’s servers has made PlayStation Network (PSN) servers completely inaccessible to gamers. While we can hypothesize about the reasons behind this disruption, Sony has yet to release an official announcement regarding the outage or its causes on their social media platforms. Understandably, this has left many gamers feeling frustrated, as they are unable to utilize their console’s online features.

Since online play is currently not an option, numerous gamers are seeking offline solutions. Although the servers are expected to resume functionality soon, the following steps can be beneficial in any situations where internet connectivity is unavailable.

Disconnecting Your PS5 from the Internet

The PS5 console provides a feature that enables users to completely disconnect it from the internet. To do this, players should navigate to the console’s Settings page, then proceed to Network and select the Settings sub-section within Network. Here, they will find an option labeled “Connect to the Internet.”By turning this option off, the system will be disconnected from the internet.

The “Connect to the Internet” option turned off on a PS5 (Image via Sony)

Playing PS5 Disc-Based Games in Offline Mode

Having a physical copy of a game is advantageous in this scenario, as the disc contains the game’s initial version, i.e. v1.0, which represents how the game was at launch. In instances like this, simply inserting the disc into the console will allow for local installation, and the title will be fully playable once the installation completes.

Furthermore, due to the PS5’s backward compatibility with PS4 games, the same steps can be applied for older generation disc-based games. It’s essential to note that patches cannot be downloaded due to the lack of internet connectivity.

Playing Digital Games Offline on the PS5

For digital games, only those previously installed on the device can be accessed in offline mode. Since players cannot connect to the servers, new games cannot be downloaded or updated. However, digital games typically include the most recent patch available at the time of download, meaning the game may not necessarily revert to v1.0. This applies to titles downloaded via PS Plus as well.

The option that must be enabled to avoid licensing issues and seamless offline play of digital games (Image via Sony) — The option that must be enabled to avoid licensing issues and ensure seamless offline play of digital games (Image via Sony)

To avoid licensing complications for digital titles, the PSN account associated with the purchased games must be set as the primary console. This can be achieved by navigating to the “Other”sub-section under “Users and Accounts”in settings and enabling the “Console Sharing and Offline Play”option.

Implications of the Outage

While the outage is unlikely to persist for long, its implications may be more extensive. This incident is reminiscent of the notorious 2011 PSN hack, which not only caused substantial financial losses for Sony but also raised questions about the security measures implemented by the company.

The possibility that the outage was due to scheduled server maintenance seems low, especially considering there was no prior notification. Nevertheless, we anticipate receiving official updates from the company within the next few days regarding this issue.

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