Sony has explained why PlayStation owners are unable to change their PlayStation Network names.

The firm doesn't allow users to change their PSN IDs to avoid the risk of abuse, according to company executive Shawn Layden.

"Yeah, we want to give you more control across your experience and your profile and your presence on the network," Layden told IGN.

"At the same time, as you'll understand, we don't want to make it so that you can go in, grief a bunch of people in Far Cry, change your avatar, change your username, go into CoD and grief everybody over there. We want to stop that."

PSN is currently undergoing a routine maintenance, which is scheduled to end at 11pm.

Sony's PS4 was recently updated to firmware 2.02, which fixed system stability issues.