PSN down: PlayStation Network not working, as servers stop people from playing games

A hostess holds a remote of a Playstation 4 at the Sony booth during the China Joy fair in Shanghai (JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/Getty Images)

The PlayStation Network has been experiencing issues, stopping players from getting online.

Some users who attempt to connect and play see only messages that the console is unable to connect, and the game fails to load friends list or play games.

Others report that the console is working as normal.

PlayStation's official status page claimed "all services are up and running", and said none of its different parts were showing problems.

But the website Down Detector confirmed a range of problems, across the world. Twitter users including prominent esports players also complained about being unable to get online.

The PlayStation Network is required for using a large number of the consoles features, with many games unable to play without an internet connection.

The outage came as huge numbers of players rushed to play Apex Legends, a new and free-to-play battle royale game that has become one of the most popular on the seervice within hours.