PlayStation Slowing Download Speeds in Europe to Manage Increased Traffic

People are spending a lot more time indoors right now, and for many, that means more time to play games. That also means a lot more people online in general, and so to deal with the increased activity, some companies are slowing down speeds.

Today, Sony Interactive Entertainment President and CEO Jim Ryan announced on the PlayStation blog that SIE is working with internet service providers in Europe to "manage download traffic to help preserve access for the entire internet community."

What exactly does this mean? Well, if you live in Europe, your PSN downloads are probably going to get slower. "Players may experience somewhat slower or delayed game downloads but will still enjoy robust gameplay," said Ryan.

Other companies, like Netflix and YouTube, have also slowed their speeds in Europe to prevent strain on the internet infrastructure. As more people are practicing social distancing and spending more time online, there seems to be a much greater strain on the services they use to access the internet.

A Bloomberg report today reports that YouTube is extending its efforts around the globe, limiting the video quality for a month in response to increased traffic. Users will see videos start at standard definition by default, though they can manually opt to watch in high definition.

So far, this seems to only affect European players. No announcement has been made concerning North American PlayStation players. But even if PSN slows to a crawl here, plenty of other storefronts and services have been offering their own deals and free games for players to dig into while they stay inside.